"What are you reading?" thread.
- Thread starter HoboNinja
- Start date
I think it gets good reviews because it hits that weird spot where it's available for free online, so you can't really complain because hey, free! At the same time though, you can pay for it through Patreon - twice weekly, every week, for quite a while now - so the people doing that have maybe payed out more than they would have for an actual professionally published book so if it's not actually that good then they're idiots - kind of a sunk costs fallacy element?
Our bars may not be, but I could point you to several other threads where we discuss exactly how low many bars are these days.
—Patrick
James Cameron needs to hurry up and release Avatar 2 already...
Why though?
Thin Air by Richard K Morgan
It's by the author of the Takeshi Kovacs series (Altered Carbon) and it very much follows the same vein. Hard-boiled noir in a believable Cyberpunk future. It's 100% my jam and pretty much something I want to hook directly into my veins. Hakon Veil might as well be Takeshi Kovacs the way Morgan's authorial voice comes across and I'm perfectly ok with it.
Takes place on Mars in a future full of corporate rule, half-assed terraforming that leaves only the lowest altitudes on Mars habitable by folks who aren't teched up for highland life. Main character is a hib (someone who's genetic tampering causes them to be awake for 8 months and take a 4 month hibernation nap) former corporate assassin down on his luck, burned from his former life, living as a hired tough on Mars trying to make ends meet, things happen, hard-boiled detective story style, etc. etc.
One thing I like about Richard Morgan's writing is he doesn't spare you the jargon and lets you catch on as you read and put the pieces of the world together as the story unfolds. It requires a bit of effort remembering stuff that's basically teflon slippery early on, but I find it rewarding. I'd rather read books like this than ones that are overly explainy.
It's by the author of the Takeshi Kovacs series (Altered Carbon) and it very much follows the same vein. Hard-boiled noir in a believable Cyberpunk future. It's 100% my jam and pretty much something I want to hook directly into my veins. Hakon Veil might as well be Takeshi Kovacs the way Morgan's authorial voice comes across and I'm perfectly ok with it.
Takes place on Mars in a future full of corporate rule, half-assed terraforming that leaves only the lowest altitudes on Mars habitable by folks who aren't teched up for highland life. Main character is a hib (someone who's genetic tampering causes them to be awake for 8 months and take a 4 month hibernation nap) former corporate assassin down on his luck, burned from his former life, living as a hired tough on Mars trying to make ends meet, things happen, hard-boiled detective story style, etc. etc.
One thing I like about Richard Morgan's writing is he doesn't spare you the jargon and lets you catch on as you read and put the pieces of the world together as the story unfolds. It requires a bit of effort remembering stuff that's basically teflon slippery early on, but I find it rewarding. I'd rather read books like this than ones that are overly explainy.
Happy Koloss Head Munching Day to all of you Brandon Sanderson fans out there in forum land.
The Sandman, by Neil Gaiman.
I've long been a Gaiman fan, but have never had the possibility to read the whole Sandman run properly as local libraries here only have a translated version, which destroys half of the quality of the work.
That said, it was, of course, excellent, and any critic who thinks/claims this isn't Literature is an idiot.
The amount of pieces of fiction that have made me cry can now officially no longer be counted on one hand.
I've long been a Gaiman fan, but have never had the possibility to read the whole Sandman run properly as local libraries here only have a translated version, which destroys half of the quality of the work.
That said, it was, of course, excellent, and any critic who thinks/claims this isn't Literature is an idiot.
The amount of pieces of fiction that have made me cry can now officially no longer be counted on one hand.
Hearts In Atlantis
I had completely forgotten I owned this book, and that I hadn't read it. It was in a section of King's books I have, a number of which was given to me by my parents when they saw them on sale or thrifted to feed the King addiction I've had since I was a teen. I don't know why I thought I had read it already. And part of me wishes I had because-
WHAT is with the jumping around?! I mean, yes, the story happens chronologically, but WHY do we need four narrators that have almost nothing to do with each other?! And if you really want to tell the story about Carol Gerber, then TELL the story with her, don't give us four male narrators and make us see her through their eyes. No one needs that bullshit. You've written books about women being the protagonist before and they were really enjoyable. And Pete Riley's section, which takes up 1/3 of the damn book, was a complete waste of time! Aside from giving the book it's title, which still make no sense, and ruminating on being an anti-war college student, it added so little! And I don't give a fuck about Willie Sherman, since it made no sense how Sully-John got the glove! And WHY did we never get any answers about Bobby's father? You don't usually leave so many major threads hanging like Roger Fucking Zelazny, King!
...But I also realized during the first act that this book implies it ties in with The Dark Tower series, the only thing of King's I never had an interest in reading. And I'm realizing I may have to break down and read it finally. If anyone had read The Dark Tower, or possibly both TDT and HiA, can you tell me if it answers any of the plot threads in HiA?
Funny enough, I remember the movie coming out for Hearts in Atlantis coming out, but I've never seen it. And it's streaming on Prime, so I guess I'll give it a go. From the looks of IMdb, they skipped a lot of the unnecessary sections, too, so let's see how this goes.
I had completely forgotten I owned this book, and that I hadn't read it. It was in a section of King's books I have, a number of which was given to me by my parents when they saw them on sale or thrifted to feed the King addiction I've had since I was a teen. I don't know why I thought I had read it already. And part of me wishes I had because-
WHAT is with the jumping around?! I mean, yes, the story happens chronologically, but WHY do we need four narrators that have almost nothing to do with each other?! And if you really want to tell the story about Carol Gerber, then TELL the story with her, don't give us four male narrators and make us see her through their eyes. No one needs that bullshit. You've written books about women being the protagonist before and they were really enjoyable. And Pete Riley's section, which takes up 1/3 of the damn book, was a complete waste of time! Aside from giving the book it's title, which still make no sense, and ruminating on being an anti-war college student, it added so little! And I don't give a fuck about Willie Sherman, since it made no sense how Sully-John got the glove! And WHY did we never get any answers about Bobby's father? You don't usually leave so many major threads hanging like Roger Fucking Zelazny, King!
...But I also realized during the first act that this book implies it ties in with The Dark Tower series, the only thing of King's I never had an interest in reading. And I'm realizing I may have to break down and read it finally. If anyone had read The Dark Tower, or possibly both TDT and HiA, can you tell me if it answers any of the plot threads in HiA?
Funny enough, I remember the movie coming out for Hearts in Atlantis coming out, but I've never seen it. And it's streaming on Prime, so I guess I'll give it a go. From the looks of IMdb, they skipped a lot of the unnecessary sections, too, so let's see how this goes.
Do audiobooks count as "reading"? Fuck it. I'm counting it.
Help! I'm listening to the audiobook of one of my all-time favourite books - Hominids, by Robert J Sawyer - and I can't stop! It's too engaging! The science fiction is too fascinating! Damn you, Audible Canada for your Canadian book sale AND $5 credit, making it so cheap to get.
Seriously, the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy aren't just some of my all-time favourite science fiction books. They're some of my all-time favourite books in general. I WISH I could write sci-fi like Robert J Sawyer.
Help! I'm listening to the audiobook of one of my all-time favourite books - Hominids, by Robert J Sawyer - and I can't stop! It's too engaging! The science fiction is too fascinating! Damn you, Audible Canada for your Canadian book sale AND $5 credit, making it so cheap to get.
Seriously, the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy aren't just some of my all-time favourite science fiction books. They're some of my all-time favourite books in general. I WISH I could write sci-fi like Robert J Sawyer.
Anyone who says they don't count is wrong.
The only argument I could see against them is in listening to it rather than reading it, you're not observing the structure of the writing. You can follow the plot, character, themes, etc, but you can't really see how the writer utilizes writing from a structural point of view. Punctuation, paragraphs, etc. Which, I suppose if one wanted to study the work from an academic standpoint, that would make sense,
They've done studies. Our brains treat it the same. Listening to an audiobook is reading; you're good.
Well they're wrong about it being a big deal, or some sort of wrong/lesser way to enjoy/take-in a story. Especially since oral transmission of stories likely predates writing.
But it's not reading if you don't, you know, read.
You wouldn't say that the Brothers Grimm "read" oral folk stories and wrote them down, would you.
Tell that to my brain, who just tunes out in minutes (i blame school, it made me really good at tuning out people talking at me).
A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green
This is a sequel to Hank's first book, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. It follows along the same themes as the first book, but raises the stakes, since the characters in the book actually know what the stakes are. It almost feels like what would happen if someone went back in time to stop The Matrix from happening.
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Tomorrow, the next Dresden Files book AND the third Lady Astronaut book drop, then next week Lindsay Ellis's new sci-fi book drops, so I still have a lot of July reading to do.
This is a sequel to Hank's first book, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. It follows along the same themes as the first book, but raises the stakes, since the characters in the book actually know what the stakes are. It almost feels like what would happen if someone went back in time to stop The Matrix from happening.
--------------------------
Tomorrow, the next Dresden Files book AND the third Lady Astronaut book drop, then next week Lindsay Ellis's new sci-fi book drops, so I still have a lot of July reading to do.
I just think it will be better once it has the other book to go with it. It's very much a lead in to something else.
Friends,
I come to you on my once-every-so-often-check-in-and-post day to tell you to give Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir a chance.
Do you like:
- necromancers?
- swordfights?
- space?
- good LGBT representation?
- murder mysteries?
If your answer to any or all of the above is yes, read Gideon the Ninth. A book about necromancers in space. And part of a trilogy, of which part two, Harrow the Ninth, just released, though I haven't been able to pick it up yet.
I come to you on my once-every-so-often-check-in-and-post day to tell you to give Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir a chance.
Do you like:
- necromancers?
- swordfights?
- space?
- good LGBT representation?
- murder mysteries?
If your answer to any or all of the above is yes, read Gideon the Ninth. A book about necromancers in space. And part of a trilogy, of which part two, Harrow the Ninth, just released, though I haven't been able to pick it up yet.
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GasBandit
Staff member
I've still got a Kingkiller-shaped-dagger in my back. I don't think Rothfuss is ever going to finish, now.
The third book in the Trilogy, Alecto the Ninth, is currently slated for 2021. Given that Muir broughtout Harrow the Ninth despite (or perhaps thanks to?) the current goings on in the world, I'd say that bodes well for her track record. But sure. I'll post again in a year.
