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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Amph What book are you reading right now?

Discussion in 'Community' started by droideka27, Aug 31, 2005.

  1. I Are The Internets

    I Are The Internets Shelf of Shame Host star 9 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2012
    Oh and before I forget, Ready Player One has got to be one of the worst novels I've ever read. The concept is interesting, but the prose is terrible. All the characters are stereotypes as well (not to mention some rather ugly racism towards two Japanese characters). This might be one of those times where the movie is vastly superior to the book, you know, like Jaws or The Godfather.
     
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  2. SWpants

    SWpants Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 28, 2004
    Huh. I didn't feel that way at all while reading it. This makes me actually want to read it again, to see if I notice that the second time around.


    I'm reading The Unexpected Adventures 1: The Evil Prince by Tom Colley.
     
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  3. Ahsoka's Tano

    Ahsoka's Tano Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 28, 2014
    I loved the book and can't wait for the movie.
     
  4. Grievousdude

    Grievousdude Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2013
  5. SWpants

    SWpants Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 28, 2004
    FOTJ: Vortex by Troy Denning
     
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  6. Juke Skywalker

    Juke Skywalker Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2004
    Just finished; Iron Gold by Pierce Brown.

    Falling into the same trap as James S.A. Corey's Expanse saga, Pierce Brown increases the number of focus characters in this 4th entry--the 1st of a 2nd trilogy--in his 'Red Rising' saga. In the process he and the story gain some scope, but sacrafice the original trilogy's laser-like focus and operatic majesty.

    Brown's prose remains as vivid and evocative as ever and the three new focus characters joining Darrow on stage are compelling in their own right, but two of them in particular seem like they came in from a different novel entirely (See; James S.A. Corey's Expanse series). Also missing are the gut wrenching sucker punch twists and turns that kept the pages turning at warp speed w/the originals. There are surprises here, but they feel far more conventional.

    By any standard this is a strong novel, but it falls just short of its predecessor's lofty heights. - 7/10

    About to begin... I don't know yet. Still undecided between The Way of Kings, Cibola Burn and The Age of Myth.
     
  7. SWpants

    SWpants Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 28, 2004
    oohhhh I didn't know there was another trilogy in the 'Red Rising' saga.
    It's unfortunate that it falls short overall, but I still want to read it.
     
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  8. Bowen

    Bowen Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 6, 1999
    Frank Capra: The Name Above the Title. I love it, what a great filmmaker and an amazing insight into Early Hollywood.
     
  9. Juke Skywalker

    Juke Skywalker Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2004
    I knew Brown was at work on a new trilogy, but I didn't know the first book was out until it popped up on my Amazon recommends feed (2nd book is set for release in September of this year according to Amazon). I read the Red Rising trilogy last Summer and absolutely loved it. It hooked me like no series had since A Song of Ice and Fire.

    By any other standard Iron Gold is a very solid read, but I felt it fell a *tad* short of its predecessors. I chalk it up to the split focus between the big, operatic stuff of two of the POV characters and the more "common folk" perspective of two others. I wanted space opera, and only got half that.

    But it's a recommend for sure and I'll be interested to hear your thoughts when you get to it :D.
     
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  10. Sarge

    Sarge Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Oct 4, 1998
    With the Lightnings by David Drake. First in a series of SF space navy novels, the two main characters are obviously inspired by O'Brien's Aubrey & Maturin in Master & Commander. Drake has always done well with military perspectives, inspired by his time in Vietnam. I've always admired his world-building more than his characters and plots. Sometimes the flow of the writing is choppy, with expository paragraphs popping up in the middle of the action. This one got off to a slow start, but the rousing finale made up for it. I expect I'll read more of these, but probably not right away.
     
  11. Chancellor_Ewok

    Chancellor_Ewok Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2004
    You should try David Weber’s Honor Harrington books. They’re also very much Master and Commander in outer space.
     
  12. Sarge

    Sarge Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Oct 4, 1998
    Yeah, I read most of those. The early ones were great. But the later ones were in desperate need of an editor to tell Weber to cut out the fat and get on with the story.
     
  13. Ender Sai

    Ender Sai Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001
    Altered Carbon by that guy
     
  14. Juke Skywalker

    Juke Skywalker Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2004
    Started and quit; The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. Phew. After a fairly long string of sci-fi novels I was itching for some fantasy and I thought I'd finally attempt Sanderson's widely praised book. It... wasn't for me. I normally have a 100 page rule w/new books (as in I commit to reading 100 pages before abandoning it), but sometimes you just know when a novel isn't for you, and 25 or so pages in it was clear that TWoK just isn't for me. In that short span I was inundated w/bizarre, unpronounceable names for characters, places and things and I just didn't foresee me enjoying having to choke that down for the next 1,200+ pages. Maybe I'll give it another go some day and find that connection. It wouldn't be the first time I've abandoned a highly regarded novel only to return to it and have it hook me. That was the case w/my two favorite novels of all-time, Dune and Lord of the Rings. The former took three tries.

    About to begin; Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan. Still in a fantasy mood, and though the start of a six book saga, it's a far more manageable 444 (paperback) pages. If it grabs me, I can mix in the sequels (one published and one soon to be) w/the rest of The Expanse series and have a shelf of go-to books for the foreseeable future. If not, I'm on to Cibola Burn.
     
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  15. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
    Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds.

    Elysium Fire is a smoldering tale of murderers, secret cultists, tampered memories, and unthinkable power, of bottomless corruption and overpowering idealism from the king of modern space opera.

    Ten thousand city-state habitats orbit the planet Yellowstone, forming a near-perfect democratic human paradise.

    But even utopia needs a police force. For the citizens of the Glitter Band that organization is Panoply, and the prefects are its operatives.

    Prefect Tom Dreyfus has a new emergency on his hands. Across the habitats and their hundred million citizens, people are dying suddenly and randomly, victims of a bizarre and unprecedented malfunction of their neural implants. And these "melters" leave no clues behind as to the cause of their deaths...

    As panic rises in the populace, a charismatic figure is sowing insurrection, convincing a small but growing number of habitats to break away from the Glitter Band and form their own independent colonies.
     
  16. PCCViking

    PCCViking Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Jun 12, 2014
    Salem's Lot
     
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  17. JEDI-SOLO

    JEDI-SOLO Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 12, 2002
    Yeah idk the thought of even attempting to read anything else by Weber after tackling Safehold just sends cringes throughout my body.

    So you abandoned a very banging awesome book after 25 pgs? 25 pgs? Twenty-five pages??? I think that was probably the best laugh I had today. Thank you. I’m picking at you Juke. I just recently read bk 3 and I have to say it was the biggest disappointment of my reading life. True slog. Bks 1&2 were so good to. I was so pissed reading that one.
     
  18. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
  19. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877, Updated Edition, by Eric Foner. Foner's book covers Reconstruction, the process of guaranteeing black rights and reintegrating the South into the nation after the Civil War, and argues strongly against the Jim-Crow-era historiographical consensus that Reconstruction was a misguided disaster, a corrupt, futile attempt to impose hapless rule by carpetbaggers and incapable blacks on the South (it is saddening and slightly ridiculous that Foner felt there still hadn't been a full history countering that narrative by 1988). It's a more academic work than narrative history, going through the various phases of Reconstruction and their impact on the many segments of postwar society. Foner traces the political contention over Reconstruction as the political consensus rapidly evolved over the course of about a decade, with Radical positions on equality before the law and civil rights legislation quickly emerging from bitter dispute to broad consensus, and then enthusiasm for Reconstruction quickly waning as Radical objectives were achieved, the public tired of endless contention, and Republicans struggled to figure out how to approach the entrenched white power base of the South. It's a very good exploration of a crucial point in American history, and of course totally depressing.
     
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  20. SWpants

    SWpants Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 28, 2004
    Not surprised, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOO :(


    I'm on On the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
     
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  21. Chromide

    Chromide Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 20, 2015
    A Passage to India by E.M. Forster.
     
  22. DAR

    DAR Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 2004
    The Judas Strain by James Rollins
     
  23. Chancellor_Ewok

    Chancellor_Ewok Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2004
    That is too bad. I’ve been in a Barnes and Noble a couple of times and my impression is that they have a very audiobook section.
     
  24. Juke Skywalker

    Juke Skywalker Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2004
    Another victim of the e-age. In this case not only are they up against Amazon and other e-tailers, but the rise of e-books encroaching on hardcopy. All of the benefits of a brick and mortar bookstore often pale in comparison to the point-click-done convenience of shopping online. You still have your shopper who likes that tactile experience, but they're quickly becoming the minority (and not just w/books). Heck, even a Gen-X dinosaur like me can't remember the last book he bought anywhere but online (thrift stores excluded). I still haven't given up on physical copy though, and I probably never will. I just can't curl up w/a good Kindle.

    Stopped reading; The Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan. I thought I was in the mood for some fantasy. I was wrong. What I read was perfectly decent, but it was like eating turkey when you're craving beef.

    Now reading; Cibola Burn by James S.A,. Corey. I return to the safety of the Expanse series and bathe in the warm, soothing waters of sci-fi.
     
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  25. vypernight

    vypernight Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Nov 1, 2012
    Book, by Robert Grudin. It's described as Satirical Metafiction and is about a literary professor who goes missing with the only clue being a novel he wrote and left behind. Book goes back and forth between the search for the professor and excerpts from the novel. I just finished a chapter loaded with footnotes, but then the footnotes came to life and began mocking the characters in the chapter before taking over the narrative, resulting in, "We are experiencing technical difficulties. Please stand by," on the next page. The chapter finally ended with a combination plot twist and Chandler's Law, which hans instantly made Book one of my all-time novels, even though I'm only about halfway through it.

    Originally, I bought it just so I could tell people, "I am reading Book," but I am having a lot of fun reading it.
     
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