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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
    This book is so utterly depressing but good.
     
  2. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    That was pretty good. I have his current book Flash Boys coming from Amazon UK. It's just out in paper here.
     
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  3. Darth Punk

    Darth Punk JCC Manager star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 25, 2013
    personally i found that flash boys got a bit samey towards the end, but overall, i enjoyed it. the way he breaks down subjects like computer science, and fiber optic cable laying, and makes it understandable and interesting is his talent. the story makes me quite angry, frontrunning orders is criminal.
     
  4. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    I might start Flashboys next. I finished my current NF book (it was about the reign of Henry VIII) and need to start a new one. The Amazon UK order with it came earlier today.
     
  5. Jedi Daniel

    Jedi Daniel Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 7, 2000
    The Lost World by Michael Crichton
     
  6. Sarge

    Sarge Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Oct 4, 1998
    HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brian. The heartwarming story of Lucky Jack Aubrey and his one true love: "He saw her plain, lying there a cable's length from him in the brilliant sunshine of English Harbour, a trim, beautiful little eight-and-twenty, French-built with a bluff bow and lovely lines, weatherly, stiff, a fine sea-boat, fast when she was well-handled, roomy, dry..." And who can forget those immortal words of Stephen Maturin: "Jack, you have debauched my sloth!" Throw in some wonderful round-the-Cape voyaging, a pistol duel, Stephen's self-surgery, a nail-biting rescue of our favourite spy, Jack's mangled proverbs, a thrilling battle at sea, and the first appearance of testudo aubreii, and you have a great volume of a great series. Diana Villiers is prominent too, but we do not speak of that... person.
     
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  7. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    Alias Grace (1996) – Margaret Atwood

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    In Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood uses the framework of a historical murder to dig into the things that most interest her. Grace Marks, at the age of sixteen, has been convicted of the brutal murder of her employer, Thomas Kinnear and his mistress, Nancy Chambers. Now, after some years in both prisons and asylums, Dr. Simon Jordan has arrived to hear her story and use his knowledge of the infant science of psychology to discover the truth of the events that occurred. I found this book really gripping; Atwood is a marvelously talented prose stylist and as she flips viewpoints between Grace and Simon, she’s able to differentiate the two characters astonishingly well and it is the warring viewpoints of those two characters that really drive the book. There’s intrigue to the plot, of course, as Grace slowly spins out the story of her life and what brought her, at the tender age of sixteen, to the shockingly violent murders that have defined her life. But the characterizations are also just flawlessly done. And this is a book that I think would continue to unfold on multiple readings. I didn’t go back through and read it a second time, but I did kind of flip back through and I just found so much symbolism and so many intriguing clues. It’s an absolutely masterful work of art and a novel that has stuck with me in a really powerful way. It’s a book that’s a bit of a blind; it’s so entertaining on the surface that you don’t realize just how deep it really is until you’re in over your head. Get to swimming. Alias Grace is worth it. Highly recommended. 4 stars.

    tl;dr – historical novel uses real murders to explore issues of identity, gender & repression; both entertaining and incredibly deep. A masterwork by any reasonable measure. 4 stars.

    More Book Reviews!
     
  8. I Are The Internets

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

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2012
    I tried reading Master and Commander. So dry.
     
  9. FRAGWAGON

    FRAGWAGON Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 3, 2012
    What a fellow you are, IATI.
     
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  10. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
    Finished Wizard War. This book starts out great. I mean truly great. Then...turns into one fo the most boring things I have ever read. Avoid.

    Moving on to Pathfinder Tales Pirate's Promise which is a sequel to a so-so book but had a couple of interesting characters.
     
  11. YodaKenobi

    YodaKenobi Former TFN Books Staff star 6 VIP

    Registered:
    May 27, 2003
    Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon.
     
  12. SWpants

    SWpants Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 28, 2004
    Star Wars: Adventures Dark horse Omnibus
     
  13. Chancellor Yoda

    Chancellor Yoda Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 25, 2014
    Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan.
     
  14. SWpants

    SWpants Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 28, 2004
    Deadly Curiosities by Gail Martin
     
  15. darth-calvin

    darth-calvin Jedi Grand Master star 2

    Registered:
    Dec 10, 2002
    Finished up The Stand reread and moved on to 3535 by G Crittenden. I've been waiting for this one since I heard about it at comic con. Really enjoying it so far.
     
  16. Deputy Rick Grimes

    Deputy Rick Grimes Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2012
    The Walking Dead: Compendium 1

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  17. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    Just started Anderson/Herbert's Sisterhood of Dune. It's been awhile since I read any Dune books so it's taking me a bit to get back into that mind frame.
     
  18. SWpants

    SWpants Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 28, 2004
    "Weird NJ" ( book that came out in 2005)
     
  19. Jabbadabbado

    Jabbadabbado Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Mar 19, 1999
    did I tell you how much I enjoyed this book? I really enjoyed this book. Anachronistic and tasty, like a pot roast and mashed potatoes.
     
  20. soitscometothis

    soitscometothis Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2003
    I'm glad.

    I first read it in my mid-teens. At the time every sci-fi book I picked off the shelves seemed to be smart and fun, and laughably I thought this meant that the majority of sci-fi books were good.

    After a period of, say, five years, where every book I purchased from the sci-fi/fantasy section was a disappointment, I stopped buying books altogether. It turns out most sf/fantasy is actually crap. I'm guessing you already know this, though.

    This Immortal was one of a handful of Zelazny's books that cemented him as one of my favourite authors. He is kind of limited - most of his heroes are much the same character, just with a different name and super-power - but I actually think this just adds to the charm, at least it did for me.

    Other books of his that I love are Lord of Light, Creatures of Light and Darkness, and Roadmarks. Like This Immortal they are lightweight but fun, throwbacks to the days where a book could clock-in at under two-hundred pages and still be considered a novel; these days it's just a prologue.

    Zelazny's books also contain a fair share of typos, or at least my copies do. In my copy of This Immortal, for instance, when asked "How do you think of such things?", Conrad replies "In Green of course. Then I translate them into English." Wonderfully surreal answer I thought. On my third re-read of the book I realised "Green" should of course have been "Greek". I prefer the surreal reading. You learn to just roll with it.
     
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  21. Jabbadabbado

    Jabbadabbado Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Mar 19, 1999
    yeah I already know this. It's been one of my mantra chants in this forum for years. But your experience was much like mine. I stopped reading sci fi around 1990 after working my way through most of the classics up to about 1980. A few years ago I picked up Cloud Atlas and since then have been reading sci fi fairly regularly again.
     
  22. soitscometothis

    soitscometothis Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2003
    Ha, that's pretty much when I stopped reading, too. Since then I've largely read only books my sister recommends, though this thread has given me some good pointers. A few weeks ago I picked up both The Wool Trilogy and The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, though I have yet to read them. I think both were recommended by you in this thread.
     
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  23. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
    [​IMG]

    E.E. Knight Dragon Champion. This is one of those books that I have seen on shealves for years but never go to. This is all told from the perspective of dragons, newly hatched. The only other books I have read that do that were a couple of Dragonlance books called, creatively, Dragons and Dragons At War. This is the first of 6...
     
  24. Jabbadabbado

    Jabbadabbado Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Mar 19, 1999
    I've only read the first Wool novella. It wasn't bad. I enjoyed The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August more. Webb's writing style is a bit low rent compared to David Mitchell (August's plot is somewhat similar to The Bone Clocks), but she's a fabulous storyteller.
     
  25. Chancellor Yoda

    Chancellor Yoda Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 25, 2014
    Star Wars MedStar 1: Battle Surgeons