Return of the Book Thread

[Khaldun]

Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a great book about medicine and ethics--a good read.

[murdoc]

Finished The Intern's Handbook: A Thriller

First 3/4 of it were really good, darkly funny and extremely cynical - but ended pretty flat, dull and very typical Hollywood. Pretty sure it's been optioned to become a movie, which makes a lot of sense to me. Pretty quick, enjoyable read though.

[MrHat]

Finished Blindsight.

Damn fun read.  Lots of interesting scifi stuff, the little "this is where I got my ideas" part at the end provided lots of follow up extra reading.

[Khaldun]

It's a good book, interesting ideas, but he's a bit preachy and doctrinaire in that "here's my sources thing". Actually didn't enhance the book for me, but instead made me feel like I'd been reading a manifesto posted to a really insane subreddit.

[NowhereMan]

Thanks so far! I'll take a look at the novellas and series. As for the sci-fact I'll probably go with Michio Kaku's "Physics of the future".

For really good Sci-Fi if you haven't read Ian M. Banks yet do that. The Culture novels are pretty much all good with some of them (Use of Weapons personally, Player of Games also) being really, really good. If you have more questions Ironwood can dust off his MA thesis 

[Ironwood]

It wasn't just on his Sci-Fi.

I still maintain that The Bridge is one of the finest Novels ever written.

[HaemishM]

Finished up A Dance with Dragons and was enjoying it more than Feast until the very end when it literally just... ended. No resolution on ANY of the fucking stories, and I mean NONE of them. Just fucking cliffhanger after cliffhanger. So if we count Feast and Dance as one long, 2,100 page book, how the fuck do you get through that and not resolve SOMETHING? The previous 3 books, though ending on "To be continued" at least there were resolutions to be had. These two were just... I'm done. See you in ten years, cockfags!

Started reading Reamde by Neal Stephenson. I'm sure it'll be like Anathem and take 200+ pages before it's even clear what the book is about.

[WayAbvPar]

Reamde is a fun ride. It gets a bit uneven toward the end (you have read Stephenson before, right?   ) but I really liked it. It is nowhere near as dense or unapproachable as Anathem. I wish he had the money and technology to build the game he describes.

[MrHat]

Reamde is a fun ride. It gets a bit uneven toward the end (you have read Stephenson before, right?   ) but I really liked it. It is nowhere near as dense or unapproachable as Anathem. I wish he had the money and technology to build the game he describes.

I was really enjoying it and the meta stuff he was describing until it gets to what begins to be the main plot.  Then it's just popcorn.

[murdoc]

The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman is out today - third book in the Magician trilogy. What I originally mistook as a Harry Potter rip-off with a splash of Narnia has turned out to be a really solid bit of storytelling, especially book two which was one of my favourite reads over the last couple of years. Really looking forward to finishing this series off well.

[Khaldun]

I loved both of these, especially book 2. This is a day one buy for me.

[Morat20]

Reamde is a fun ride. It gets a bit uneven toward the end (you have read Stephenson before, right?   ) but I really liked it. It is nowhere near as dense or unapproachable as Anathem. I wish he had the money and technology to build the game he describes.

Have you tried the Baroque Cycle?

[NowhereMan]

Reamde is a fun ride. It gets a bit uneven toward the end (you have read Stephenson before, right?   ) but I really liked it. It is nowhere near as dense or unapproachable as Anathem. I wish he had the money and technology to build the game he describes.

I was really enjoying it and the meta stuff he was describing until it gets to what begins to be the main plot.  Then it's just popcorn.

I enjoyed Reamde until the plot developed, it's a bit like Stephenson writing Tom Clancy. Then again I loved Anathem and really enjoyed the word creating and the multiverse stuff.

[Chimpy]

Reamde has the benefit of being where Stephenson finally seemed to figure out how to tie up a story in a decent way instead of ACTION ACTION ACTION, ok now the end.

[WayAbvPar]

Reamde is a fun ride. It gets a bit uneven toward the end (you have read Stephenson before, right?   ) but I really liked it. It is nowhere near as dense or unapproachable as Anathem. I wish he had the money and technology to build the game he describes.

Have you tried the Baroque Cycle?

I have read it, but would like to do so again. Still slogging through my last read through of Wheel of Time. I am almost through to the Sanderson stuff, which will all be new for me. God books 8-10 are just AWFUL.

[Abagadro]

Finally got around to reading Blood Meridian.  Took me forever and I still don't quite know what to think about it.

[Phildo]

Every time a Reddit thread pops up about people's favorite books, Blood Meridian is on the list.  I've had it queued up on my e-reader for a while now, too, and keep putting it off.

[Abagadro]

It's certainly an "important" book and one I'm glad I have read (particularly since I like a lot of Cormac's other stuff). It is, however, not particularly enjoyable to read. I can go into why if you would like.

[Phildo]

No thanks, I'm already having a hard enough time getting myself to sit down and start.

I still have two Malazan books left to read before I do anything else, anyway.  And I'm supposed to be studying for some technical certification or other.  That counts as Book Thread material, right?

[Miasma]

Ice T reads bad fantasy.

[K9]

I just finished 'Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell'. It's a good book and I'm glad I read a few threads and reviews on reddit that encourage me to stick with it. The main issue with the book is not that it is long (clocking in just under 1000 pages, but I've read big books, that's not necessarily a bad thing) but just how fucking slow it is at the start. You have to read pretty much the equivalent of a regular book before you even meet the second protagonist, and even after that not much happens for a long time. By the time things do start happening they all seem to happen in a very condensed and rushed fashion. I think this might be the book's biggest fault really.

It's definitely a well thought out book in terms of world-creation and plot, and I grew to like the characters and find them interesting. I'd even consider reading a sequel that followed up on some of the open threads at the end. But damn, I hope she gets a sterner editor; you could easily cut this story down to a more manageable 500 words and still lose nothing. Also, I guess she was going for a dickensian style, but I think deliberately misspelling words (chuse for choose, sopha for sofa are the two that spring to mind, but there were several dozen, all seemingly picked at random) just felt like a strange affectation and didn't add anything.

It's not a hard read, it's not a bad read, it's just a bloody long read. YMMV

I can't remember who mentioned 'The Martian' by Andy Weir, but I'm on that now and loving it so far. I'm also loving the prospect of a book written at a more manageable pace...

[dd0029]

Warning - The Martian ruins any sort of space survival anything. Watching/reading anything related prompts the thought, what would Mark Watney do?

[Morat20]

Warning - The Martian ruins any sort of space survival anything. Watching/reading anything related prompts the thought, what would Mark Watney do?

That book has been recommended to  me by several, quite different in book tastes, people. I'm gonna have to pick it up.

[Khaldun]

It's a good and quite quick read.

[lamaros]

The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman is out today - third book in the Magician trilogy. What I originally mistook as a Harry Potter rip-off with a splash of Narnia has turned out to be a really solid bit of storytelling, especially book two which was one of my favourite reads over the last couple of years. Really looking forward to finishing this series off well.

I'm halfway through book one are fighting not to give up. I have no idea what the point of it all is and it's just too cliche and annoying at the moment. Tell me it's worth fighting for.

[Khaldun]

I think if you're not getting it and not enjoying it by then, give up. Since I can't think of too many other books where a place like Hogwarts is treated as if it were a real prep school--full of drugs, ennui, snobbery and adolescent pain--I'm not sure how the book can be a "cliche" exactly. It's definitely riffing off of other fantasies--Harry Potter in the first half, Narnia in the second half--but growing them up and making them three-dimensionally "realistic" in a variety of ways. If that basic schtick isn't interesting to you, or you're not getting that this is what's going on, you won't like it.

I will say that I think the first book is the weakest of the three, but then, I think it's pretty strong.

[Phildo]

Is this a trilogy, or are they planning a dozen more books in the series?

[murdoc]

Is this a trilogy, or are they planning a dozen more books in the series?

Trilogy

I did like the first book well enough, but it was the second one that really grabbed me. The third was ok, bit of a let down.

[Khaldun]

The third loses some steam for me when they open the suitcase.

[Phildo]

Then I can read it now, yay!

[lamaros]

I think if you're not getting it and not enjoying it by then, give up. Since I can't think of too many other books where a place like Hogwarts is treated as if it were a real prep school--full of drugs, ennui, snobbery and adolescent pain--I'm not sure how the book can be a "cliche" exactly. It's definitely riffing off of other fantasies--Harry Potter in the first half, Narnia in the second half--but growing them up and making them three-dimensionally "realistic" in a variety of ways. If that basic schtick isn't interesting to you, or you're not getting that this is what's going on, you won't like it.

I will say that I think the first book is the weakest of the three, but then, I think it's pretty strong.

Yeah I guess it's just me. Harry Potter meets Narnia with a cast of self-obsessed uni students who I hate. The problem is the for me the combination is just the combination, it's just a fan-fix mash up instead of generating somethig new and interesting. I much much prefer  reading Brett Easton Ellis for the prep school stuff, much more depth to it. I really didn't by the realism aspect, it all felt paint by numbers and didn't touch me apart from making me frustrated.

It reads very first bookish, the feeling is the author was making it up as he went along and the plot just kind of happens, along with large explanatory paragraphs of 'meaning', so I'm actually going to give the second a go and see how his craft has come along.

[Maven]

The Circle by Dave Eggers as part of my college English class. It investigates a Google-like company developing world-changing technologies while ignoring the social implications, like "We've made this hidden HD camera the size of a lollipop and placed thousands of them across the world!" or "Imagine if we could stop child abductions by implanting a chip into the bone! You'd be able to track your child at all times."

It is the first story I've read where it conveys the painful awkwardness of tech people trying to be human. Only about 80 pages in but I'm invested.

[Khaldun]

I think if you're not getting it and not enjoying it by then, give up. Since I can't think of too many other books where a place like Hogwarts is treated as if it were a real prep school--full of drugs, ennui, snobbery and adolescent pain--I'm not sure how the book can be a "cliche" exactly. It's definitely riffing off of other fantasies--Harry Potter in the first half, Narnia in the second half--but growing them up and making them three-dimensionally "realistic" in a variety of ways. If that basic schtick isn't interesting to you, or you're not getting that this is what's going on, you won't like it.

I will say that I think the first book is the weakest of the three, but then, I think it's pretty strong.

Yeah I guess it's just me. Harry Potter meets Narnia with a cast of self-obsessed uni students who I hate. The problem is the for me the combination is just the combination, it's just a fan-fix mash up instead of generating somethig new and interesting. I much much prefer  reading Brett Easton Ellis for the prep school stuff, much more depth to it. I really didn't by the realism aspect, it all felt paint by numbers and didn't touch me apart from making me frustrated.

It reads very first bookish, the feeling is the author was making it up as he went along and the plot just kind of happens, along with large explanatory paragraphs of 'meaning', so I'm actually going to give the second a go and see how his craft has come along.

I always have a hard time in this thread figuring out what your gold standard for originality and craft actually is.

[lamaros]

Me too. Sometimes little things just piss me off. Sometimes I don't care about the little things when the rest hits the spot. I found it very hard to like anyone in The Magicians and so the little things set me off. I'm enjoying book two much more so far.

Plus Harry Potter and Narnia set a decent bar if you want to nod vigorously in their direction; you have to do it pretty well!

Of the SF/Fantasy stuff I've read recently Ancillary Justice is probably what I enjoyed most.

[Khaldun]

Ancillary Justice is a good gold standard for originality, so thumbs up there.

I think basically you're not meant to like anyone much in the first book. It's about a prep school where people are bored by magic rather than awed by it, and students who (rather like current students) are so full of ennui and narcissism that they can't really find a way to connect with what they're learning (or each other). In some ways, the first book is a fantasy version of William Deresiewicz' new attack on higher education (here's the short version: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118747/ivy-league-schools-are-overrated-send-your-kids-elsewhere)   Basically Grossman is saying, "This is what Hogwarts would really be like, and this is how hard it would be for the kids from Hogwarts to appreciate a place like Narnia if they found their way there.)

Second book and then third is about growing up, becoming real adults, getting a serious stake in the game, and at that point even some of the most unlikeable people start to become likeable in their own way--because they start understanding better why they act the way they do. And start appreciating magic and fantasy at a deeper level.