Return of the Book Thread

[Lt.Dan]

I bought The New Space Opera (an anthology)

I just got this from the library and am enjoying it.  It really brings back memories of the SF anthologies and short stories I read in my early teens.  Ahhh, sentimental favorites :)

I just read "The Cyberiad" by Stanislaw Lem.  Lem has been on my Amazon wishlist forever and I finally got round to buying it.  Lem is the author of Solaris and I wondered what Russian sci-fi from the 70s might be like.  This probably isn't the best starting point.  The book is a series of philosophical parables ranging from the absurd to the paradoxic.  A fun read but not what I was expecting.  My wife says I read it just to improve my sci-fi street cred - "Gibson? He's nothing. You should read russian 70s sci-fi.  Now that's original!"

[JWIV]

When you read the Riftwar saga you can hear the rattle of the dice behind every page. It's so clearly the novelisation of a tabletop campaign it hurts.

Literature doesn't have to have a point. It's like an extended jam session with prose. Tried reading any of William Gibson's recent stuff? He describes how nothing at all happens in gorgeous hi-def detail for chapters at a time.

Currently I'm reading Nagash the Sorceror by Mike Lee and I'm enjoying it hugely, Matter by Iain M. Banks was also very good.

Glad to hear about Nagash. I'll be picking that one up soon.    Just finished reading Altered Carbon.  Very good, though a bit gratuitous at points.

[murdoc]

Picked up 'Night of Knives' written by the guy who co-created the Malazan world with Erikson.

It's pretty damn bad.

[FatuousTwat]

That sucks... My library system doesn't have it, and I didn't want to buy from an unknown author. Good to know.

[WayAbvPar]

Tried reading any of William Gibson's recent stuff? He describes how nothing at all happens in gorgeous hi-def detail for chapters at a time.

Thank you for putting a finger on what was bugging me about Spook Country. His writing style is fun to read (almost as fun as Stephenson, but not quite), but there just wasn't enough plot there to really drag me in. It felt more like a short story that was painfully expanded to novel form.

[murdoc]

That sucks... My library system doesn't have it, and I didn't want to buy from an unknown author. Good to know.

It's kinda funny, Erikson did a intro for him and basically says 'so-and-so made this world possible and this isn't fan-fic'. And then you read it and it's at about fan-fic quality imo.

As always, YMMV, but I'm pretty disappointed.

[Johny Cee]

Picked up 'Night of Knives' written by the guy who co-created the Malazan world with Erikson.

It's pretty damn bad.

It's not good,  but it is readable.  If folks want,  I can mail it out.

I still haven't finished Toll the Hounds yet.  Plodding, over-written, and no sympathetic characters.  There's a couple of POVs with villains that come off as mustache twirling baddies that like to kick puppies in their spare time.

The POVs are all whiny and depressed,  with a hefty helping of pseudo-deep philosophy.

[FatuousTwat]

Great, so are the Malazan books going to turn into the Wheel of Time or Sword of Truth series, where it is good for the first few books, then absolute shit?

If so, it's another point towards my "Stop at book 3 or your series will suck!" theory.

[Draegan]

I'm up to Bonehunters and they've all been good reads.

On another note, people, tell me of Neuromancer.  I hear either extremely good things or extremely bad things.

[Reg]

Neuromancer was pretty cutting edge when it first came out. It was one of the very first in the cyberpunk genre. I remember liking it back then but I have no idea how it's held up over the years.

[Draegan]

Neuromancer was pretty cutting edge when it first came out. It was one of the very first in the cyberpunk genre. I remember liking it back then but I have no idea how it's held up over the years.

I never got into Cyber Punk so perhaps it's a good place to start?

[Johny Cee]

Great, so are the Malazan books going to turn into the Wheel of Time or Sword of Truth series, where it is good for the first few books, then absolute shit?

If so, it's another point towards my "Stop at book 3 or your series will suck!" theory.

Through Bonehunters is solid.  By solid I mean I actually went out and reread the book within three months.

Reaper's Gale was pretty good,  but dragged in a couple places.  Toll the Hounds has the same problems as Reaper's Gale but amplified. 

I wouldn't call it shit, at all.  It just isn't an engrossing read.


Your theory on greater than 3 books in a series is automatically proved wrong by any combination of the Hornblower books,  the Aubrey & Maturin books, Discword books,  or Jim Butcher's "Dresden" books. 

[Reg]

I never got into Cyber Punk so perhaps it's a good place to start?

I'd say so. Even if you're really into it it's worth reading Neuromancer just for the sake of completeness IMO. What I can't remember since it's been so long is if any of the plot devices in Neuromancer have been overused since it first came out to the point of becoming cliches.

[Phildo]

I enjoyed Neuromancer and I only read it for the first time this last year.  It's really cool how it feels like it was written much later than the early 80s.

[Arrrgh]

Neuromancer was pretty cutting edge when it first came out. It was one of the very first in the cyberpunk genre. I remember liking it back then but I have no idea how it's held up over the years.

I never got into Cyber Punk so perhaps it's a good place to start?

And Snow Crash.

[Murgos]

I enjoyed Neuromancer and I only read it for the first time this last year.  It's really cool how it feels like it was written much later than the early 80s.

This.  I read Neuromancer the first time in the mid 80's and it blew my mind.  I reread it about 2 years ago and it was amazing to point out so many things that came true, or seem obvious now but weren't event dreamed of yet when it was written.  It might feel slightly dated in parts, what with so many of its iconic moments copied by others, but it's still a damn good story.

[naum]

I enjoyed Neuromancer and I only read it for the first time this last year.  It's really cool how it feels like it was written much later than the early 80s.

This.  I read Neuromancer the first time in the mid 80's and it blew my mind.  I reread it about 2 years ago and it was amazing to point out so many things that came true, or seem obvious now but weren't event dreamed of yet when it was written.  It might feel slightly dated in parts, what with so many of its iconic moments copied by others, but it's still a damn good story.

I started to reread Neuromancer last summer and never finished… 

/em looks around the cluttered den for his copy…

[Tale]

On another note, people, tell me of Neuromancer.  I hear either extremely good things or extremely bad things.

There's a great 1990s documentary called No Maps For These Territories, based around a long interview with William Gibson in the back of a car as it is driven along through the USA. It's his unique intellectual response to what was going on during the 1990s internet boom, a decade after he coined the term "cyberspace" in Neuromancer.

A few excerpts from the documentary (warning: they used Bono to read excerpts from the book, don't judge it on what you think of Bono):
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=zc26BVmpQsU
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=poQwVguZeBg
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=dLmgrYS781A

He's a unique talent - not a great literary writer, but an individual thinker who writes excellent, highly original fiction. He's not a technology nerd and he doesn't attempt to forecast, he takes his unusual way of looking at today's cutting edge developments, and it comes out as near-future sci-fi. There's always a "holy shit" moment where he has grasped what's happening, or what could happen, better than anyone else alive.

[Sky]

I didn't really care for his stuff.

I'm reading stuff on silviculture and composting.

[Mosesandstick]

I'll second Neuromancer - only read it two years ago.

[justdave]

Third for Neuromancer, here. It's been quite a while since I've read it, but I found Count Zero under a dresser a couple months ago and was pretty surprised at how well it had held up.

[Falwell]

So far a somewhat light reading jaunt I picked up the zombie apocalypse book "World War Z" and I was pleasantly surprised.

Most zombie scenarios have the setting and plot revolve around a town or state. It has to be stopped before it spreads out and infects the rest of the world yada yada yada. Well, here, it DOES get out and infect the rest of the world.  You follow the history of this "war" from accounts of completely different people. A Canadian soldier, a black market surgeon, a Mossad agent, a Palestinian professor etc.

If you dig the zombie apocalypse scene, pick it up. Pretty decent read.

http://www.amazon.com/World-War-Z-History-Zombie/dp/0307346617/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220707210&sr=8-1

[Johny Cee]

Anathem is out now.

Gogogogo.

[FatuousTwat]

Almost done with Reapers Gale.

SPOILER ALERT
I've gotten to one shitty death. I can't believe they had him get his face cut off right before his friend showed up. FUCK. I don't really get it. He was built up so much in the previous books, like he was going to have some important part to play in the upcoming books.

Maybe he isn't really dead, like so many others.

[WayAbvPar]

Anathem is out now.

Gogogogo.

I am at least waiting for the trade paperback. I hate reading hardcover books- they are too damned unwieldy.

[Oz]

On another note, people, tell me of Neuromancer.

good book.  Since only 1 person mentioned it i'll reiterate: Read SNOW CRASH.

On a side note i really enjoyed World War Z.  its got a nice style to it.

[Murgos]

On a side note i really enjoyed World War Z.  its got a nice style to it.

I'll third or fourth, or whatever it is, WWZ, it pretty much kicks ass and while I'm at it I'll Nth the Dresden Files, they've only gotten better as the series has progressed.

[Johny Cee]

Anathem is out now.

Gogogogo.

I am at least waiting for the trade paperback. I hate reading hardcover books- they are too damned unwieldy.

The hardcover is the very definition of unwieldy,  coming in at over 1,000 pages.  Literally,  it's large enough that I think it has its own gravity. 

[Abagadro]

I think the airline will charge me extra to bring Anathem onto the plane with me Friday.

[justdave]

On another note, people, tell me of Neuromancer.

good book.  Since only 1 person mentioned it i'll reiterate: Read SNOW CRASH.

On a side note i really enjoyed World War Z.  its got a nice style to it.

Actually, only read Snow crash after you've gotten your fill of 80's/early 90's cyberpunk...It's the other end of the envelope. But yes, do definitely read Snow Crash.

[Rasix]

Am I the only person that wasn't blown away by Snow Crash?  I felt like holding up a giant flashing sign that said "GET ON WITH IT" through more than half of that book.

Maybe I was just in a bad frame of mind when I read it or something, but it didn't really inspire me to go check out his other work. 

Of course, I'm reading crap right now that I'm ashamed to even admit out loud.  Work's got my brain so cooked I need something poorly written and mildly interesting with a touch of nostalgia. 

Toll the Hounds is tempting, but I'm afraid I might be done with Erikson.  I can't take another Reaper's Gale and from Johny's impressions, Toll seems like all that and worse.

[Arrrgh]

Every chapter in Toll is opened and closed with commentary by Kruppe. If you're one of those people who hates the way Kruppe speaks then Toll isn't going to do a lot for you. I enjoyed it and would rank it 2nd after MOI. RG was probably the weakest of the series.

To the person above worried about Tok...

Toll spoiler...

[WayAbvPar]

Am I the only person that wasn't blown away by Snow Crash?  I felt like holding up a giant flashing sign that said "GET ON WITH IT" through more than half of that book.

Maybe I was just in a bad frame of mind when I read it or something, but it didn't really inspire me to go check out his other work.

Stephenson will go out on a tangent about 5 times a chapter if his editors allow him. It doesn't bother me ( I actually love it, since that is exactly how my brain works), but I can see the style grating on others. If you can get past that, all his stuff is fantastic.

Rasix, if you thought Snow Crash was slow moving, DO NOT even attempt to read The Baroque Cycle. It is several hundred pages longer than it needs to be. I fear it would end with you, Neal, and a murder/suicide crime scene. I still liked the series, but even I thought it was nigh unreadable in parts.

[FatuousTwat]

Every chapter in Toll is opened and closed with commentary by Kruppe. If you're one of those people who hates the way Kruppe speaks then Toll isn't going to do a lot for you. I enjoyed it and would rank it 2nd after MOI. RG was probably the weakest of the series.

To the person above worried about Tok...

Toll spoiler...

Oh snap. And I LURRRV Kruppe. Things are looking up! I just hope the other crappy death is expounded upon, since the Errant was involved.

Has anyone else read the novellas he wrote in the same universe about the 2 necromancers? I've only read one of them and it was pretty damn good.

[Rishathra]

Stephenson will go out on a tangent about 5 times a chapter if his editors allow him. It doesn't bother me ( I actually love it, since that is exactly how my brain works), but I can see the style grating on others. If you can get past that, all his stuff is fantastic.

Rasix, if you thought Snow Crash was slow moving, DO NOT even attempt to read The Baroque Cycle. It is several hundred pages longer than it needs to be. I fear it would end with you, Neal, and a murder/suicide crime scene. I still liked the series, but even I thought it was nigh unreadable in parts.

90% absolute dreck that was hard to wade through, 10% pure golden awesomeness that was every scene involving Half-cocked Jack.  So awesome that it made wading through the shit worthwhile.