Return of the Book Thread

[Abagadro]

I know I've said it before, but I wish Peter F Hamilton would write some SF/crime/hardboiled/whatever stuff

Have you read his Greg Mandel trilogy?  That's basically what that is. It's his early stuff so not quite as accomplished from a writing point of view IMO but still pretty good.

[lamaros]

Have you read his Greg Mandel trilogy?  That's basically what that is. It's his early stuff so not quite as accomplished from a writing point of view IMO but still pretty good.

Yeah I have. I read them as a kid when the came out, really really used to like A Quantum Murder.

It's a shame he doesn't try something like that now, with his more polished writing skills, as it is obvious he still likes detective/mystery fiction. Even when he tries to avoid it there are normally at least a few elements in his novels and short stories. It just seems that since the success of Night's Dawn he's decided space opera is where he's going to earn the money.

Some espionage/spy stuff would be good too. Can't think of the last good spy novel, 'real' or genre, that I've read...

[Abagadro]

Well he's obviously scratching a Fantasy itch with the Void trilogy so maybe he will focus on another genre with his next set.  Paula Mayo can become a P.I. and ride around in space Ferrari wearing flowered shirts.

[Velorath]

Recently read the first book of Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy "All the Pretty Horses".  That guy is not big on telling cheerful stories is he?

[tgr]

I know I've said it before, but I wish Peter F Hamilton would write some SF/crime/hardboiled/whatever stuff, instead of just including elements of it his space operas. He's really enjoyable when he does it. Re-reading Fallen Dragon at the moment...

/signed

Although I've happily sat down for literally a week straight just to read the night dawn's trilogy, up until the last 200-300 pages of the final book, where he seems to go into "wtf, I can't go on for another book, I need to finish this", and it all seems to go to crap.

His Greg Mandel trilogy was also pretty good, but I felt they were a bit short, however that's just me reading it too quickly.

[Ironwood]

Be careful what you wish for though;  The Steel Remains was fucking woeful.

[JWIV]

Be careful what you wish for though;  The Steel Remains was fucking woeful.

I'm reading that one now.  He really does seem to want to be sure that you know everyone in the book is gay.  And in case you forgot, don't worry, he'll remind you on the next page.

[tgr]

Is The Steel Remains just as bad as Melanie Rawn's Exiles volume 1, The Ruins of Ambrai?

Because that was a serious mindfuck, with way too much internal dialogue and thought analysis. Almost to the point where I thought I was reading a teenager's drama-filled world through their eyes. I'm not sure if I quite want that...

[Sky]

Fallen Dragon is up for reading soon as I finish up the Modesitt Recluce books that have been written since I left off a couple years ago. I think there've been five since then and I think I'm on the last one. Good, enjoyable light fantasy and the new one is pretty big.

Dragon Age is really cutting into my reading time, dernit. Haven't dipped into Hamilton's Void, either. Then there's some Modesitt standalones to finish off. Luckily, Modesitt and Hamilton are both standing orders.

[MahrinSkel]

I know we've mentioned Stross a couple of times in this thread, but here's a  moment: The "Halting State" sequel is to be titled Rule 34.

--Dave

[Morat20]

I know we've mentioned Stross a couple of times in this thread, but here's a  moment: The "Halting State" sequel is to be titled Rule 34.

--Dave

I enjoyed Halting State, so I'll be getting that when it comes out. The Zombie Flash crowd moment was awesome. :)

[Murgos]

I'm reading Michael Lewis's Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity.  He only wrote a couple of the pieces in this but all of the essays are pretty damn interesting.

Basically it's snapshots of three different market panics, the 1987 Black Monday crash, the 1997 Asia collapse and then the recent Mortgage Backed Securities fiasco.  What he has done is assembled the best journalistic pieces from just before, during and after each crash.

It's a pretty good read, also if you haven't read Moneyball or Liar's Poker I also recommend those books.  Very insightful and informative.

[Ard]

Basically it's snapshots of three different market panics, the 1987 Black Monday crash, the 1997 Asia collapse and then the recent Mortgage Backed Securities fiasco.  What he has done is assembled the best journalistic pieces from just before, during and after each crash.

That sounds interesting, but I'm not sure how valid comparing either of the others to the most recent one, since it's not done yet, nor has the long term fallout been really seen.  I'm not trying to get into any sort of politics debate here, just wondering how well integrated into the book this is, since the first two parts are pretty clearly long term views of the situations, and the third has barely even started.

[Murgos]

Haven't gotten to the third part yet, I'll let you know how it fits.

[Lt.Dan]

Just finished Tales of Dying Earth by Jack Vance.  It was a book I was keen on reading ever since I saw it listed as further reading in the red basic D&D book.  Hard to get into but it's read now.  The main character is a sociopath (and probably the inspiration for 'chaotic' alignments) and pretty unlikeable.  The stories are basically a sequence of puzzles or logic tests which is kind of enjoyable the first couple of times but gets pretty repetitive.  This just may have been the style with 1950s sci-fi and fantasy writing (Stanislaw Lem is the same)

Just started "Heaven and Earth: global warming the missing science" written by a vocal climate change sceptic.  It's pretty good reading and I'm enjoying a different perspective on the issue.  I'm currently in the first chapter which is providing some historical context on global temperature change over the last century, 2000 years, and 16,000 years.  Who would have thought we already had two climate changes in the last 2000 years where temperatures changed by 5-6 degrees celsius.  Be interesting to compare with a like work by a climate change supporter - I suspect there is pretty technical disagreements about the treatment of various observations and their statistical analysis.  Also terrifying reading about the machinations of the IPCC.

[Cyrrex]

Just started reading the second Malazan book, and you guys were right - it seems a big improvement over the first.  Almost like it's two different people writing it.  I can now sorta even follow along the 20 different plot lines and manage to care about some of the characters!

[Murgos]

That sounds interesting, but I'm not sure how valid comparing either of the others to the most recent one, since it's not done yet, nor has the long term fallout been really seen.  I'm not trying to get into any sort of politics debate here, just wondering how well integrated into the book this is, since the first two parts are pretty clearly long term views of the situations, and the third has barely even started.

I missed that there is also a section on the dot.com bubble collapse.  Anyway, I've decided that the best way to answer your post is with a 'Lighten up Francis."  The book is documentary not explanatory.

[Ard]

I missed that there is also a section on the dot.com bubble collapse.  Anyway, I've decided that the best way to answer your post is with a 'Lighten up Francis."  The book is documentary not explanatory.

That's more or less what I meant.  I can dig the first couple parts.  From a documentary perspective, those might be well worth reading, and do sound interesting.  The most recent one as well possibly, but we're still in the middle of it, so it almost more feels like an in the moment cash grab than a documentary from the sounds of it.  Let me know if it's actually worth reading though.

[Rasix]

Finished Cook's Passage at Arms. Enjoyable read, but like all Cook, you're somewhat lost at the beginning.  Definitely one of his less complex stories overall, and makes me appeciate The Dragon Never Sleeps a bit more (but not necessarily like).

Earlier I had finished a re-read of A Song of Fire and Ice.  The fourth book was really weak in comparison to the rest. He's going to definitely croak before he finishes it.

[Quinton]

Just started reading the second Malazan book, and you guys were right - it seems a big improvement over the first.  Almost like it's two different people writing it.  I can now sorta even follow along the 20 different plot lines and manage to care about some of the characters!

My understanding is the second book was written a few years after the first and both his writing and his vision of the world were refined a bit in the interim.  I still enjoyed the first book quite a bit, but it definitely stands out as being the first and a bit rough in some ways.

I *really* enjoyed the hell out of the third book, and am 3/4 of the way through the 4th, which is also proving to be quite good.  So far the series just keeps getting better for me.  Slowly, details about the world start filling in -- things that felt like little offhanded flavor bits in the first book or two get more details.

Book three happens at roughly the same time as book two, but elsewhere in the world -- there are places where the stories touch, and events that happened in book two impact book three or vice versa.  Book four returns (after a longish intro that takes place elsewhere) to continue events in seven cities, following chronologically the end of book two.  It all works though.

[Rendakor]

I actually couldn't get in to Malazan book 2; I thought the first one was rough but good. When the second shifted to an all new location, all new characters, etc. I couldn't get interested in the long setup again. Dropped it ~100 pages in.

[Khaldun]

Just finished Tales of Dying Earth by Jack Vance.  It was a book I was keen on reading ever since I saw it listed as further reading in the red basic D&D book.  Hard to get into but it's read now.  The main character is a sociopath (and probably the inspiration for 'chaotic' alignments) and pretty unlikeable.  The stories are basically a sequence of puzzles or logic tests which is kind of enjoyable the first couple of times but gets pretty repetitive.  This just may have been the style with 1950s sci-fi and fantasy writing (Stanislaw Lem is the same)

Vance is a stylist: all of his characters speak the same, most of his plots are a loose, jazzy picaresque of some kind or another. Reading him is a kind of stream-of-consciousness immersion bath in a setting, it's about drifting down the river of the mood he establishes. He's the kind of guy best read on a warm summer day under a tree with a bottle of wine next to you, never with any great push to finish the thing. It's the same way I feel about Paul Park's Starbridge Chronicles or Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast.

[Sky]

I mentioned I'm catching up on Modesitt's Recluce series. Enjoying Mage-Guard of Hamor, it's a good addition to the series that is marred by having his most unlikable character yet as protagonist. I really want to punch the fuck out of the whiny emo bastard and have zero empathy for him, and feel bad for the characters around him, only one of whom seems to understand what a douchebag he is. The rest are magically oblivious to this fact, apparently.

Modesitt has a tendency to really push the protagonist's character flaw down your throat, but there's maybe 3 protagonists in the Recluce series that are simply obnoxious. Luckily, this is mostly inner monologue stuff, not outer douche Donaldson crap.

[dd0029]

I agree about the first part of the Mage Guard book, but I seem to recall he tones back the douchebag stuff about halfway.  That guy and the Imager character are fairly similar.

Just finished the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie society for work.  Kind of girly, but not overwhelmingly.  The story telling via letters and notes took a bit to wrap my head around, but it worked well.

Also finished Jim Butcher's final Alera book.  Much more action.  Actually reminds me of some of the entertaining "lets blow shit up in a cool way" that David Weber used to do before he decided to write meeting minutes.

[RhyssaFireheart]

I'm a good 200 pages into the first book of the final Wheel of Time books.  Picked the hardback up at Costco only because the husband was getting *gag* Sarah Palin's book.  Deal was if he got a book, I got a book.  At least I'm actually reading mine.

Anyways, I'm pleased so far.  The plot is actually moving!  There is still description of every character introduced aka you are told exactly what everyone's physical features are along with just what they are wearing (if female that is) but the details aren't down to the atomic level any more.  Instead of being told a character is wearing a beige dress with dark tan insets and cream embroidery along the collar and cuffs with lace along the bottom of the skirt in yet another shade of cream, we're told that the character is wearing a tan dress with some minor mention of the embroidery perhaps.  I was a bit shocked by the lack of overwhelming details, tbh.  It's one thing to world build and give details.  It's another to overwhelm the readers with info dump on really minuscule minutae.

I have a habit of skipping around in my books and reading the end before I ever start (it works for me *shrug*) so I already know that the plot really does start moving along finally.  I just hope that Jordan didn't start so many nit-picky plot threads that Sanderson finds it difficult to wrap them all up.

[Sky]

I seem to recall he tones back the douchebag stuff about halfway. 

Neg. I'm about 3/4ths of the way done and he was just whining to himself again. I was going to read the Imager, but now I'm not sure. I'll know what to look for, anyway.

[Draegan]

So i'm 3/4ths of the way through the first Culture Novel "Consider Phlebas".

Love it so far.

[Fraeg]

Just started reading the second Malazan book, and you guys were right - it seems a big improvement over the first.  Almost like it's two different people writing it.  I can now sorta even follow along the 20 different plot lines and manage to care about some of the characters!

His books seemed to really tighten up after the first book or two. 

I just started the most recent release (as far as I know of) Toll the Hounds and am liking it.  Also reading Greg Keyes the Briar King and that was a pleasent read.  Also reading (you can see a trend here) Deborah Madison's What we eat when we are alone

http://www.amazon.com/What-We-Eat-When-Alone/dp/1423604962

highly recommend this if you are enjoy cooking, would also make a great gift.

[Ard]

I just finished up Toll the Hounds and Night of Knives by Esslemont.  I liked Toll the Hounds, but I really hope one of the authors at least explains why that whole end sequence even happened (regarding the hounds and certain other characters even being where they were other than it being convienent for the author).  I'm waiting on the US paperback release of the next book, so it'll be a while before I see if any of it ends up making any sense.

Night of Knives was a decent book, and Esslemont is at least a much more focused writer than Erickson.  Much shorter story, but fairly well written.  From what I've heard he's the one that's going to be wrapping up most of the side stories from the main series, and after reading this one, I'm mostly okay with that.  I hear the next book is pretty epic as well, but it's not out until spring in the US.

[Khaldun]

The Keyes Briar King series starts out very well, good stuff, but (imho) totally falls apart by the last book, which is wholly unsatisfying.

[Chenghiz]

Just finished Tales of Dying Earth by Jack Vance.  It was a book I was keen on reading ever since I saw it listed as further reading in the red basic D&D book.  Hard to get into but it's read now.  The main character is a sociopath (and probably the inspiration for 'chaotic' alignments) and pretty unlikeable.  The stories are basically a sequence of puzzles or logic tests which is kind of enjoyable the first couple of times but gets pretty repetitive.  This just may have been the style with 1950s sci-fi and fantasy writing (Stanislaw Lem is the same)

I just finished this as well, though I picked it up because it was the inspiration for Gene Wolf's Book of the New Sun. It was pretty nice before-bed reading but definitely not up to the par of modern fantasy/scifi. I like the recurring theme of people who are dicks screwing over other people who are dicks, though.

[Grimwell]

I'm a good 200 pages into the first book of the final Wheel of Time books. 

Anyways, I'm pleased so far.  The plot is actually moving! 

I read this one the weekend before Thanksgiving. The plot movement was great, and while the writing was different enough to stand out as not-Jordan, it was good and I liked it.

If you want some bonus points to make this interesting, once you are done, grab the Dragon Reborn and start reading it. You will be amazed at how many little things are connected just between these two books. It made things clear that Jordon wasn't just making shit up, he did have a plan and you can see the links across these two books hammering it home.

I only read the Dragon Reborn because I had to fly to Seattle for a day-business trip and knew I was going to have serious downtime in two airports, etc. It was more of a whim to grab the old book and read it, but it ended up being a pleasing whim.

[Triforcer]

I just reread the three Barry Hughart books- Eight Skilled Gentlemen, Bridge of Birds, and the Story of the Stone.  These books are part Pratchett, part drama, part history, and part myth in an absolutely compelling ancient Chinese setting.

Highly recommend- I absolutely love this guy and all three of these books are in my fantasy top 20.  But after getting screwed by publishers in the early 90s, he never wrote a book after those three.  A damn shame. 

[RhyssaFireheart]

I'm a good 200 pages into the first book of the final Wheel of Time books. 

Anyways, I'm pleased so far.  The plot is actually moving! 

I read this one the weekend before Thanksgiving. The plot movement was great, and while the writing was different enough to stand out as not-Jordan, it was good and I liked it.

If you want some bonus points to make this interesting, once you are done, grab the Dragon Reborn and start reading it. You will be amazed at how many little things are connected just between these two books. It made things clear that Jordon wasn't just making shit up, he did have a plan and you can see the links across these two books hammering it home.

I only read the Dragon Reborn because I had to fly to Seattle for a day-business trip and knew I was going to have serious downtime in two airports, etc. It was more of a whim to grab the old book and read it, but it ended up being a pleasing whim.

Yeah, stayed up late last night to finish the book (unemployment can have some upsides!) and was decently impressed with how things turned out.  I reread the entire series fairly recently over the summer because I knew this book would be out soon at the time, so I'm pretty familiar with how everything had been going up until now.  It just seemed that after pages and pages of highly detailed exposition, this book just flew towards what will be the ultimate resolution. 

[Fraeg]

The Keyes Briar King series starts out very well, good stuff, but (imho) totally falls apart by the last book, which is wholly unsatisfying.

ouch...    I liked the first so much that when went to get the 2nd book, I said F'it and bought all of them.   In which book in the series did the shark get jumped?