Return of the Book Thread

[Viin]

Excession and Use of Weapons are tied for my favorite Culture books. 

I haven't read Excession yet, so I went to grab it for Kindle but apparently it doesn't exist! WTF!

[Morat20]

Banks has said, on the record, that'd he'd happily license Consider Phlebas for a movie, no matter how craptastic the script, as long as . He just wants to see that done. :)

The Culture isn't perfect. It's great -- in the historic sense, the latest book (crap, forgot the title) has one species admitting that NON being part of the founding of the Culture always left them with the feeling that they'd somehow missed out on something monumental -- but not perfect.

90% of the citizens don't give a shit. Life is perfect for them, and their societal guilt is handled by Contact. Contact feels good because they're out helping the barbarians, and it's easy -- because they never see the difficult stuff, which is handled by those psychopaths in Special Circumstances.

And through it all, the Minds are actually running the show and they're often meddlesome as shit. The Grey Area was just obvious about it -- not that it was fucking around with entire societies and planets, but that it's methods were uncouth. It didn't care to cloak itself in polite fictions.

And when they fuck up, they fuck up big time. Their "tiny" mistakes are tens of millions dead.

I think one of the more interesting bits about the whole setup is that the Culture's one real, lasting decision -- the one thing they, as an entire society, took seriously -- was the Idrian war. They sat down as a whole, looked at the universe with realistic eyes, and decided "It's them or us. We might as well get it the fuck over with".

I get the feeling that where you end up in the Culture is far more about how easy it is to delude yourself (despite their supposed genetic, medical, phsyological, and lingual advantages). The ones that can cheerfully fool themselves spend their lives in the Culture. The more realistic you are about how the universe really works, the closer you come to the fringe services like SC.

[Xilren's Twin]

So I just finished The Wise Man's Fear, and my god, I just don't know what to make of Rothfuss.  He's a fantastic writer who's books I can't put down, who's telling an absolutely terrible story.  The first book was Grey Mouser goes to Hogwarts, and is painfully derivative, and this one is worse in a lot of ways.  I couldn't stop reading it, but I want to tear it apart now that I'm done.   I don't think I've been this frustrated with an author since Robert Jordan.  Someone tell me I'm wrong and not getting it, because I just don't get the hype behind him.

Yeah the entire feeling of the second book was that it could have been compressed into a 30 second training montage video of Kvothe learning how to fight, fuck, fail at love and earn some cash.  It was a leveling up story that did almost nothing to advance the overall plot, which means if this truly was a trilogy the next book is going to have to crap a bunch of things in without giving them their full due.  Either that of he's gone full on Jordan-esque "mo' books mo' money" cash grab fever and we'll end up with a half dozen.  I'm also beginning to hate what a dumbass Kvothe is much of the time for being such a genius.

Hopefully picking up both last WoT and Michelle West's latest House war book Tuesday.  I for one and finally glad to see the end of WoT, but it's hard not to wish the Brandon Sanderson had written 75% of series instead of the last 3.  Speaking of whch i also just read the paperback of his lastest Mistborn world books, An Alloy of Law, which was fun.  Set ~300 years after the conclusion of the mistborn trilogy, it reminded me a little of the second Avatar cartoon.  World has advanced with technology to steam level, early electric lights but still has magic too.   He said it's a stand alone but it's written in such a way it could easily be continued.  I'd rather he get on with the Way of Kings series myself.

[Chimpy]

I just got an email from Amazon saying that my copy of A Memory of Light has shipped and will be here tomorrow....I had forgotten I ordered it a couple months ago  

[lamaros]

So after the discussion here I thought I'd read some Culture novels. On my kindle.

Nope, the publisher decided that fixing the price 30% higher for the kindle is the way to go.

So then I thought I'd try Jim Butcher. Same deal.

Gah. Stupid industry.

[Ingmar]

30% higher than what?

EDIT: A quick check of the Kindle store vs. Amazon for me shows the paper copy of Consider Phlebas at $2 more from Amazon itself. I can get it cheaper used or from a 3rd party, but no Prime then so it ends up being more with shipping.

[Bzalthek]

Looking at Amazon: Consider Phlebas
Paperback: 10.87
Kindle: 8.89

Now, there is a 3rd party seller selling it for 6.88 (with 4 buck shipping and handling) but I don't think you can rabble rabble against them for that.

[HaemishM]

IIRC, lamaros does not live in the US, so it may be some VAT/currency conversion bullshittery.

[Lt.Dan]

IIRC, lamaros does not live in the US, so it may be some VAT/currency conversion bullshittery.

I think he's in Australia in which case it's due to the government's assinine import restrictions on book importing to "protect" the local publishing industry.  A new release paperback here costs $A30-35 so Amazon figures that it can charge higher prices for kindle for the convenience of instant ownership vs delivered price of buying the paperback online and shipping to Australia.

Local publishers get screwed because consumers can still purchase cheaper from amazon.  Australian readers get screwed because the Kindle price for books is higher here than in other markets and we're now being conditioned that an e-book should cost $US18 (instead of $US8-10 in the US).

[lamaros]

Yeah, AUS. Prices are publisher fixed and I'm region blocked from the uk and us stores, where it is half price...

[dd0029]

Well, that's a 23 year trip done. Took the day off and read A Memory of Light. There's an interesting passage where Thom is trying to compose an epic and he struggles to find the right words. I think that was Sanderson talking to us when he has Thom pass on words like epic. I think in the end, the words are suitable and appropriate. I will say that I enjoyed the Perrin parts much more this time, while I thought Matt kind of dragged.

[ghost]

Hah.  I'm just finishing up Lord of Chaos (book 6), listening to the audio version as I drive back and forth from work.  This is about where I left off the first time I read them, although I think I got partway through book 7.  It's starting to feel a little "samey", and I have a feeling that it's going to be a long slog to book 14 from this point.

[Bzalthek]

If I remember correctly it picks up again around book 10.  I've read them all thoroughly but when I do re-reads books 6-10 tend to make me paragraph skip.

[dd0029]

8-10 is a rough patch. I can't decide whether 9 or 10 is the worst, probably 9 though - that Perrin mess is awful there. But there's an extremely strong upswing at 11 - the last Jordan book - through to the end. As always, if you get bogged down and want to just know what happens, the chapter summaries on WoT Encyclopedia are very good. It's how I got through book 9 in an hour in my read through before Towers of Midnight.

[Quinton]

I'm tempted to pick it back up and try to finish.  I think I made it to book 7 or 8 previously.  It drove me nuts in a lot of ways and was really repetitive and slow in others, but there were these little moments of interesting story and character interaction peppered throughout.

[Rendakor]

I'd made it to 11 originally, and got bogged down in 8 on my recent reread (Elayne and Nynaeve killed it for me). I'm probably going to pick up MoL this week, catch up via the Encyclopedia and start on the Sanderson books.

[Bzalthek]

Bookstore SQUEEE

Went to pick up A Memory of Light when I spotted Cold Days by Butcher which I had marked that I should buy but forgot.  And then I saw Erikson had a new book out Forge of Darkness so that went onto the pile and finally saw Peter F. Hamilton's Great North Road  was out (and 50 pages longer than the fucking Jordan book).  I then proceeded to run to the cashier, trying not to notice anything else lest I buy it.  I will be in bed reading for the next week.

[JWIV]

My brain is seizing up at the stupidity of this.


-----------------------------
Question: Why a delayed ebook release for A Memory of Light?

Answer: This is not my decision or Tor's decision, but Harriet's. She is uncomfortable with ebooks. Specifically, she worries about ebooks cutting into the hardcover sales. It isn't about money for her, as the monetary difference between the two is negligible here. It is about a worry that her husband's legacy will be undermined if sales are split between ebooks and hardcovers, preventing the last book of the Wheel of Time from hitting number one on either list. (Many of the bestseller lists are still handling ebooks in somewhat awkward ways.)

As the last books have all hit number one, she doesn't want to risk one of these not hitting number one, and therefore ending the series on a down note. (Even though each Wheel of Time book has sold more than its predecessor, including the ones I have worked on.) I personally feel her worries are unfounded, and have explained that to her, but it is not my choice and I respect her reasoning for the decision. She is just trying to safeguard Robert Jordan's legacy, and feels this is a very important way she needs to do so. After talking about the issue, we were able to move the ebook up from the originally planned one-year delay to instead come out this spring.
-----------------------------------------------

[RhyssaFireheart]

She wanted a fucking one year delay on releasing the ebook just so the final novel could hit #1?  Seriously?  It's all about the money, all the way.

Now I'm going to feel a bit dirty when I stop by the bookstore on the way home from work to buy MoL. 

[Rasix]

I was only going to get it hardcover anyhow, but that reasoning is a bit scummy.  Still, I thought it was weird that it didn't show up in the Nook store at all.

[ghost]

By the time I get to it it will be in the $5 bin anyway.   

[Quinton]

Okay, catching up on WoT can wait until they finally get their heads out of their asses and publish the ebook.   I sure as hell will not reward this kind of misguided nonsense by buying a hardcover book.

[Bzalthek]

Good Job!  That'll teach em.  I'm loving it, btw. 

[HaemishM]

What a ridiculous fucking reason for not releasing the eBook. Welcome to last fucking century.

[Chimpy]

Well, isn't she the 'editor' that married Jordan and then was his editor on all the books that sucked? Her judgement is faulty from that standpoint.

[WayAbvPar]

I am staunchly anti-piracy, but this kind of shit makes me reconsider my stance.

[Cyrrex]

Yeah, I'm not terribly happy about this.  Not simply due to principle or the fact that I prefer ebooks...but shit, I have all 13 of the others on ebook.  On top of that, now that I am in another country, I can't easily get my hands on a hardcover without paying the equivalent of about...45 dollars for it or something.

Just a shitty and shortsighted thing to do.  There might even be enough people already exhausted by the length the series (both in number of volumes and the sheer number of decades it has taken to finish it) that a move like this will end up costing sales in the end.  It'll still be number one, so whatever.  Fuck me, I guess.

[Merusk]

I was only going to get it hardcover anyhow, but that reasoning is a bit scummy.  Still, I thought it was weird that it didn't show up in the Nook store at all.

She's a poet in her 70s.  The woman was born in 1939 for chrissakes.  I wouldn't put too much down to money but instead, I'm willing to bet she just doesn't "get" technology in some ways.  We'll be there on things one day, too, and sooner than we'll be comfortable with.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_McDougal

You people are so hateful at times I wonder at your pettiness.

[HaemishM]

You can put my hatefulness down to having an actual interest in eBook sales - big name people shitting on eBook sales makes me stabby, especially in a way that tries to discredit the medium as somehow less valid than a giant ream of dead trees.

[Sky]

There's also the part about publishers being cunts about ebooks.

[rattran]

With Barnes and Noble headed down the shitter after Borders (and most of the independents they both fucked) publishers will either have to start being much nicer to libraries, or just become Amazon's bitches.

[dd0029]

Become Amazon's bitches.

They seem hell bent on taking option two for $1000 Alex.

[Quinton]

I don't think deciding to wait until the ebook is available qualifies as hateful -- I haven't touched the series since book 8 or so, and will simply wait to start wrapping it up until I can avoid buying a big, heavy dead tree version.  I certainly am not anywhere near invested in this series to the point that I'd deal with the hassle of legacy print media. ^^

[Morat20]

You can put my hatefulness down to having an actual interest in eBook sales - big name people shitting on eBook sales makes me stabby, especially in a way that tries to discredit the medium as somehow less valid than a giant ream of dead trees.

At least Amazon's behind it, and they are a bit of a gorilla on it.

I've been astonished by how fast it's taken off.

[Rendakor]

Picked up Memory of Light and Brent Weeks' latest (edit: The Blinding Knife) today.