What are you reading right now?

Sector11 · 2015-10-30 15:09:08

ratcheer wrote:

I have started The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkein, but I'm having trouble getting into it.
Tim

Yea that's a hard one ... I went through it years ago.

iMBeCil · 2015-10-30 19:15:26

ohnonot wrote:

anyhow, i remembered at least one more:
Gwyneth Jones: Spirit or The Princess of Bois Dormant
that was abso-effing-lutely crazy fantastic.

Thanks a lot ohnonot for the suggestion, I'll try to find it and read it.

(Should I be ashamed of my accident?)

Irulan · 2015-10-30 19:18:18

Temetka · 2015-10-31 05:05:13

A read i've read many times - The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-10-31 11:28:54

^ Hence the signature, yes?

EDIT: On topic:

default.aspx?ISBN=9780117081888&FORMAT=1

Motorcycle Roadcraft: The Police Rider's Handbook

This book has quite literally saved my life on many occasions, highly recommended.

Horizon_Brave · 2015-11-09 10:03:47

I'm currently reading a book called "Pushing Ice" by Alistair Reynolds...so disappointing.. Two female leads, both are asteroid miners who come across one of the moons of Saturn or something which roars to life and begins traveling on a very (painfully long ) journey to the Spica System.The book which is supposed to create some good tension amongst the characters, (they're stuck on an asteroid for atleast 60+ years together...) especaially the new leads, but it doesn't feel real at all... The book is just completely...utterly dull. It sudden jumps years and years forward...the characters become old, then are magically rejuventated to their youth by these "fountain" aliens who are HORRIBBLY described. I still have no clue what they look like.The author does a shit job at making it feel like these characters are really stuck on an asteroid for years... plus random events happen, that appear to be significant at the time... but are completely abandoned never to be referenced again..

The descriptions, narration, and pacing of the book is just utter shit...would not recommend.. I can't wait until it's over... Needless to say I'll be monitoring this thread for some better sci fi.

iMBeCil · 2015-11-09 12:45:07

^Blasphemy glasses

Just kidding ... I actually really enjoyed this book. I prefer space-opera books, you obviously don't. Mater of taste.

Don't waste time on other books by the same author. And don't try to read Iain M. Banks ... he has even less 'understandable' plot, with much more extraordinary changes and characters.

Based on your description - i.e. complaints - of the Reynolds book, I would suggest Jack McDevitt ... he is much more 'straightforward' ... sort of, especially 'Alex Benedict' books.

hhh · 2015-11-09 14:54:13

ratcheer wrote:

I have started The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkein, but I'm having trouble getting into it.
Tim

It's not a finished J.R.R. Tolkien work. See this link, it helps explain why The Silmarillion reads as dry as any history book...
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Silmarillion

Also, the names in that book are ridiculous. You spend so much time in your head trying to "hear" how an Elvish name sounds that you can get stuck on a paragraph for minutes on end.

The Lord of the Rings is a timeless trilogy that you can find something new to enjoy even after having read it a few times. I'm sure I'm not the only one who read it in his early teens and skimmed a lot of the long, sometimes multiple-page descriptive passages about the forests, the mountains, the rivers, etc... so you could get to the next encounter with some fascinating creature or great battle, only to re-read it later in life and relish those passages.

Sector11 · 2015-11-09 16:05:34

I have to agree with hhh about the LOTR trilogy. I read that back in the 70's (not exactly a teen at the time) and skipped some of the 'boring stuff' like songs, etc. Have reread it a multiple times since then - and even all the boring stuff ... I came to appreciate the "songs" it's like spice in a stew. smile

Horizon_Brave · 2015-11-09 16:49:29

Sector11 wrote:

I have to agree with hhh about the LOTR trilogy. I read that back in the 70's (not exactly a teen at the time) and skipped some of the 'boring stuff' like songs, etc. Have reread it a multiple times since then - and even all the boring stuff ... I came to appreciate the "songs" it's like spice in a stew.

hehe, I did the same thing...though not back in the 70's... back in the 2000's... big_smile

iMBeCil wrote:

^Blasphemy
Just kidding ... I actually really enjoyed this book. I prefer space-opera books, you obviously don't. Mater of taste.
Don't waste time on other books by the same author. And don't try to read Iain M. Banks ... he has even less 'understandable' plot, with much more extraordinary changes and characters.
Based on your description - i.e. complaints - of the Reynolds book, I would suggest Jack McDevitt ... he is much more 'straightforward' ... sort of, especially 'Alex Benedict' books.

Well I came across Reynolds from Steve Gibson, a security podcaster I listen to. I usually love his recommendations. But this is the 2nd Alastair Reynolds book I've read. The first was Century Rain. Which I really really enjoyed! (at least the first half) But yea I think I *may* give the first book of Revelation Space a go, in the future, but not right now. I'm looking elsewhere. I'll check out Jack McDevitt. It's not that I don't enjoy complex plots, I love 'em, but this book ( Pushing Ice) just seemed repetitive, non interesting, and didn't present anything to me that made me really care about the plot or characters, especially by the end.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-11-09 18:05:38

@Horizon_Brave -- try Neal Asher.

He has lots of books, they're all very similar but they're all very good and focus on action.

His best work to date is Prador Moon.

Horizon_Brave · 2015-11-09 18:45:47

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

@Horizon_Brave -- try Neal Asher.
He has lots of books, they're all very similar but they're all very good and focus on action.
His best work to date is Prador Moon.

Lol, I hope I'm not giving you all the wrong idea...I don't like just action and explosions. If anything that sort of unwarranted action and big dramatic events is what turns me off. I relish a very thick story (I'm a fan of the game of thrones books..) especially when the story is thought out, and the action is for the purpose of story. Hell, i'd 9/10 easily take a book with good interesting, and thoughtful dialogue over a completely mindless action novel...that being said, I'll still check out Neal Asher as well! big_smile

Are any of you fellow readers on Goodreads.com?

Last edited by Horizon_Brave (2015-11-09 18:47:16)

Frogman · 2015-11-09 19:57:02

Started in on Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, but got sidetracked by Dark Orbit. Both are audiobooks I can listen to while I commute. It's hard enough to follow GR in text, let alone audio. DO is much easier to follow, but still takes sidetracks and jumps in the storyline.

Provacative novels, though.

Dobbie03 · 2015-11-10 06:45:43

Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson

Temetka · 2015-11-10 07:21:29

Reddit.

Just did a random google search for "How to kill" because...reasons.

Found this: http://thoughtcatalog.com/juliet-escori … et-caught/

I would consider that to be a primer on how to kill. But I don't want to say anything more on the internet regarding this topic. Mainly because digital footprints and all.

ohnonot · 2015-11-10 07:35:34

Horizon_Brave wrote:

"Pushing Ice" by Alistair Reynolds...so disappointing.. (painfully long ) journey ... The book is just completely...utterly dull.

i'll give you this:
alastair reynolds is not the best creator of suspense.

his characters aren't so polished, but very real and complex, imo.
some people might perceive this as flawed.

in all other points, i disagree.

there's huge vision in this book, a story created that is so far out from everything one might be experiencing in our day & age, yet so accomplished, both dramatically and science-fictionally.

i esp. enjoyed the "fractal zoom effect", when they think they found the aliens, and they turn out to be just a tiny part in an incredibly larger scheme...

Horizon_Brave · 2015-11-10 16:24:13

ohnonot wrote:

i esp. enjoyed the "fractal zoom effect", when they think they found the aliens, and they turn out to be just a tiny part in an incredibly larger scheme...

Meh I say! The "larger Scheme" wasn't even that entertaining, and it was too fantasy based rather than actual science based...

Anyway I just finished it thank goodness. I just started (literally 30 minutes ago), A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. This is a prequel of short stories in the "Game of Thrones" universe. Written obviously by Martin. What's funny is the first 30 minutes of this book, has given me more entertainment than all of "Pushing Ice" did.. lol

Temetka · 2015-11-11 04:24:47

Dragonlonace Trilogy containing:

Time of the Twins
Test of the Twins
War of the Twins

I've read it many times before, but it's one of my favorites and I love reading it.

ohnonot · 2015-11-11 07:26:54

@Horizon_Brave: it's ok, it's not for everyone.
but i felt i had to jump to the rescue for a. reynolds. i think he's the only active writer even remotely able to fill the gap that iain banks left behind, god rest his soul.
if you ever happen to read an iain m. banks novel, i'd be interested to hear your opinion.

about the term "science fiction" - i think it's a relic from the 50s when these type of movies & novels were mostly about futuristic technology, but since they almost inevitably ended up in space, it's become a term for that, too.
yes, the larger part is probably fantasy, but i like the prerogative of "alien": try to imagine something that has nothing to do with what exists on planet earth or in human minds... and space travel, which presumes advanced technology and thus, at least for humans, the future.

Horizon_Brave · 2015-11-11 08:58:16

Temetka wrote:

Dragonlonace Trilogy containing:
Time of the Twins
Test of the Twins
War of the Twins
I've read it many times before, but it's one of my favorites and I love reading it.

Oh man, I used to love the DragonLance series... Have you read the Soulforged? It's like the prequel to the Twin's series... show's how Raistlin and his bro become how they are... I miss the series...and I miss playing Dungeons and Dragons actually... cry

jdonaghy · 2015-11-11 12:14:35

Stranger in a Strange Land.

I've read it, before, but I thought it deserved another reading.

Afterwards, it'll be lots of Thomas Wolfe.

Last edited by jdonaghy (2015-11-11 12:47:41)

g33zr · 2015-11-11 15:06:37

Finished reading Open Grave by Swedish author Kjell Eriksson. The book was different from others in the crime genre. I plan to read more by Eriksson. smile

Next on my list is novelist and poet Ron Rash.

pa$$word · 2015-11-11 16:58:11

Also really loved Dragonlance (Chronicles and Legends). In the period I read them, I was really into Gary Numan and will forever associate the fall of Ishtar with this.

pvsage · 2015-11-11 20:57:57

"The Coddling of the American Mind" by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc … nd/399356/

Temetka · 2015-11-12 02:42:33

Horizon_Brave wrote:

Temetka wrote:
Dragonlonace Trilogy containing:
Time of the Twins
Test of the Twins
War of the Twins
I've read it many times before, but it's one of my favorites and I love reading it.
Oh man, I used to love the DragonLance series... Have you read the Soulforged? It's like the prequel to the Twin's series... show's how Raistlin and his bro become how they are... I miss the series...and I miss playing Dungeons and Dragons actually...

Yep, I've read them. Good books. I miss RPG's as well. Perhaps when I retire I can return to the lands of fantasy and mythos. It'd be like returning home after a long journey.

jdonaghy wrote:

Stranger in a Strange Land.
I've read it, before, but I thought it deserved another reading.
Afterwards, it'll be lots of Thomas Wolfe.

One of my favorite books. Something I can really grok.

#26 2015-10-30 15:09:08

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#27 2015-10-30 19:15:26

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#28 2015-10-30 19:18:18

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#29 2015-10-31 05:05:13

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#30 2015-10-31 11:28:54

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#31 2015-11-09 10:03:47

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#32 2015-11-09 12:45:07

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#33 2015-11-09 14:54:13

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#34 2015-11-09 16:05:34

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#35 2015-11-09 16:49:29

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#36 2015-11-09 18:05:38

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#37 2015-11-09 18:45:47

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#38 2015-11-09 19:57:02

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#39 2015-11-10 06:45:43

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#40 2015-11-10 07:21:29

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#41 2015-11-10 07:35:34

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#42 2015-11-10 16:24:13

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#43 2015-11-11 04:24:47

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#44 2015-11-11 07:26:54

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#45 2015-11-11 08:58:16

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#46 2015-11-11 12:14:35

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#47 2015-11-11 15:06:37

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#48 2015-11-11 16:58:11

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#49 2015-11-11 20:57:57

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#50 2015-11-12 02:42:33

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