Return of the Book Thread

[HaemishM]

I am starting to lean toward libraries for some of the 'current events' books I read, since they are soon irrelevant and I will almost assuredly never read them again. Someone needs to start a Netflix spin off for books, since I am way to lazy to actually get to the library.

That's how I've been reading a lot of the nonfiction stuff I read lately, my local library. It's cheaper than buying them all, and most of them aren't books I want to keep since they get out of date quickly.

[Sky]

Are you shitting me? A fee just to borrow a book, or do you mean interloan from other libraries? Can you provide a url to their site? The librarian types will be all over this! We don't charge for anything but DVDs, and that's still wicked cheap. We do charge for some things from academic libraries, but that's just passing on the cost we pay. Even our fines are minimal, because we just want the books back, not be punitive.

+Tax? What the heck kind of...a private library? Do you have a public library in the area? They shouldn't be charging for circ and definitely not be charging tax. We're tax exempt, non-profit. I don't think you can be ALA-accredited and get away with that.

Anyway, I just mentioned this and they all want to know where this library is, so please check on that url for me :)

[Big Gulp]

Yeah, I don't really do the library thing anymore.  I cruise our local used bookstore, which is actually more of a publisher's excess stock resaler.  I get a lot of good deals there.  A massive coffee table book (and I mean massive, this thing must weigh around 20 pounds and is hardcover) of the collected works of Shakespeare; plays, sonnets, you name it for $16 brand new.  I picked up Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars brand new for $2.

Beyond that I also hit Amazon quite a bit for "buy it used" option since you can get so many cheap books that way.  Bought a bunch of stuff on language history, folktales, mythology, and horror in film and literature.  It helps that I don't really read any fiction very often so I don't have to keep track of some author's series.

[Furiously]

I assume that libraries vary greatly from county to county and state to state over here. The one near us charges $1.50 + tax to borrow a single book for one week. When considering pulp fiction, you'd be as well to just buy used paperbacks.

That just isn't right.

[Johny Cee]

College libraries are pretty awesome for periodicals.  I occasionally stop in to read the back issues of the Economist ($5 at the newstand?  No.) and browse through a few others.

@ Sky:

For kicks, check out the Amazon reviews for the Black Company.  The Forest of Cloud scene that sets people off is sacking Whisper's training camp,  with the amoral reaction to some of the Company brothers engaging in antisocial behaviour.  Lots of 0 star reviews from that.

I'd recommend publication order to read the Taltos books.  Brust does some funny things with the chronology that you really don't appreciate unless you read in publication order.

[Johny Cee]

I was thinking of picking up A Cruel Wind, but I just finished Soldier's Live and I need a break from Cook.  I take a long time getting through his books due to not always being able to follow the action.  Some of his sequences just throw me for loops.  Plus, man.. a lot of characters met rather perfunctory ends.  At least people went out with a big ass bang in Silver Spike(still my favorite of his, but I enjoyed the entire series). Dunno, reading Cook leaves me satisfied but exhausted.

I picked up Storm Front, the first book of the Dresden Files.  Enjoying it a lot so far. 

So, anyone recommend what series I should dive into next (I may not come out of the Dresden books for a while though)?  Some series I've enjoyed lately: A Song of Fire and Ice, The Black Company (entire run) and admittedly the War of Souls (crappy Dragonlance but fun). Thinking of seeing what these Vlad Taltos or Mazalan Books of the Fallen are all about. Unforunately I can only get them online... the Barnes and Noble near my house likes to stock the latest stuff but doesn't realize people tend to buy series.

The Dresden Files gets better as the series goes on.  The last two, Dead Beat and Proven Guilty, are excellent.  The whole thing is very entertaining.  Stay away from Butcher's fantasy series.  This series is being produced as a TV series on Scifi starting in January.

The Taltos books are great.  Brust writes very much like Zelazny.

The Malazan books are also excellent.  Deadhouse Gates (2nd book in series) is an amazing read,  and a good starting place.  Then work back through Gardens of the Moon (first book in series) and Memories of Ice (book three), and then go forward in the series.  High bodycount,  and it is emotionally rending.  The Chain of Dogs plot line in Deadhouse Gates is heartrending.

Grimwood's Arabesque books are also very good,  though more speculative fiction.  Alternate history with cyberpunk trappings set in North Africa,  but kind of tough to find.  Pashazade is the first book.

Check out Gemmel's Drenai novels for more light, entertaining reading.  Most are standalone set in different timeperiods,  starting with Legend.


In a different vein,  I just read Mike Lewis' The Blind Side about football and the growth in the importance of the offensive lineman and especially the left tackle in response to the defensive move towards the large, vicious, fast blind side pass rusher (Lawrence Taylor!).  The bulk of the story is about Michael Oher,  a young black kid from the Memphis ghettos discovered by a well off white family who end up adopting him.  Really interesting.

[Rasix]

The Malazan books are also excellent.  Deadhouse Gates (2nd book in series) is an amazing read,  and a good starting place.  Then work back through Gardens of the Moon (first book in series) and Memories of Ice (book three), and then go forward in the series.  High bodycount,  and it is emotionally rending.  The Chain of Dogs plot line in Deadhouse Gates is heartrending.

Did some major book shopping this last week (Gardens of the Moon is holding up my order ><).  So, you recommend reading Deadhouse Gates first?  I saw on wikipedia that you can start off with the first, second or fifth book, but they recommended starting in the publication order.

I hate that I'm seeing a lot of recommendations already out of regular print. But nothing so far, save the Kurosawa/Mifune book schild recommended, has been impossible to find.

[Johny Cee]

The Malazan books are also excellent.  Deadhouse Gates (2nd book in series) is an amazing read,  and a good starting place.  Then work back through Gardens of the Moon (first book in series) and Memories of Ice (book three), and then go forward in the series.  High bodycount,  and it is emotionally rending.  The Chain of Dogs plot line in Deadhouse Gates is heartrending.

Did some major book shopping this last week (Gardens of the Moon is holding up my order ><).  So, you recommend reading Deadhouse Gates first?  I saw on wikipedia that you can start off with the first, second or fifth book, but they recommended starting in the publication order.

I hate that I'm seeing a lot of recommendations already out of regular print. But nothing so far, save the Kurosawa/Mifune book schild recommended, has been impossible to find.

I read Gardens of the Moon first.  It's very good,  but alot to keep track of.  You get bombarded with backstory and history for the world.  I'm sort of odd that I often enjoy starting a series in the middle and infering what came before from what's happening now.  It's similar to Cook's Tyranny of the Night in that your trying to follow a wide-flung story while picking up info about the world.  Erikson also hasn't completely found his own voice yet,  and it shows.  The Bridgeburners bits especially feel very Cook,  who Erikson recognizes as a major influence.

Deadhouse Gates is almost completely standalone, with very little backstory you need to keep track of.  This or Memories of Ice has the best all around story.  Alot of pure badass moments,  some great characters.

Do NOT read Memories of Ice before you read Gardens of the Moon.  Midnight Tides,  the fifth book,  is completely standalone.  Don't worry about "epic fantasy cash-cow milking" that's seem to struck alot of other series...  Lots of overall plot movement,  and even main characters regularly get killed off.

I believe Murgos seconded the idea of reading Deadhouse Gates first,  but I originally saw the recommendation on the Malazan forums.

Kind of interesting to hear that Gardens of the Moon wasn't in the bookstore.  Especially considering the HUGE number of recommendations on the book,  from both magazines and fantasy authors.  Cook gives it a thumbs up,  and Stephen Donaldson is massively effusive about the series.

Erikson seems to be far more popular in the UK and Europe then N.A. though.

[Xerapis]

Erikson seems to be far more popular in the UK and Europe then N.A. though.

Precisely why I signed up for Amazon.uk...just to order his books from there.

[Johny Cee]

Erikson seems to be far more popular in the UK and Europe then N.A. though.

Precisely why I signed up for Amazon.uk...just to order his books from there.

Me too, Xer.  I had my copy of The Bonehunters rush delivered.  From everything I've seen,  Erikson is still on schedule to deliver Reapers Gale (Book 7 of 10) next spring.

It's funny because Erikson is a Canadian (from Winnipeg?) who shopped his book around here,  had no bites, and had to go to England to get published.

Has anyone picked up the Esselmont novella yet?  I've been procrastinating on ordering it.

[Lt.Dan]

What kind of new series Rasix? :)

I'm in the middle of re-reading the Exiles series by Julian May, it's been a while but it's just as good as I remember it being. It's sort of fantasy done through the lens of SF, if that makes any sense. Starts with The Many Coloured Land. If you haven't read it already, it's worth giving it a try.

Just started re-reading this series again.  This time through I'm really digging the politics and anthropological angles.

[tar]

What kind of new series Rasix? :)

I'm in the middle of re-reading the Exiles series by Julian May, it's been a while but it's just as good as I remember it being. It's sort of fantasy done through the lens of SF, if that makes any sense. Starts with The Many Coloured Land. If you haven't read it already, it's worth giving it a try.

Just started re-reading this series again.  This time through I'm really digging the politics and anthropological angles.

Yeah, there's quite a lot of stuff going on. One thing that I still haven't figured out though [sorta-spoiler] Who (or what) is Dougal?

[bhodi]

I definately need to re-read the Pliocene Exile again. I read it in high-school where I completely missed a lot of the celtic myth and politics angles. I do have the galactic mileu trilogy (jack the bodiless, diamond mask, magnificat) on my bookshelf though.

It's a shame Julian May didn't continue writing books in that setting, there seemed like so much more you could do.

[Hoax]

I read the first Dresden Book, I can see the appeal but it doesn't seem to be my style I may give it another shot though.  I also read American Gods because somehow I hadn't already.  Fantastic as expected, far better then Anansi Boys -which I had already read- imo.

[Mazakiel]

I'm currently reading through Variable Star, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit.  It's a book written by Spider Robinson based off of notes and such that Heinlein left behind, with the book having them listed as co-authors.  It's obviously not new Heinlein, but I've found it just as engrossing as any of his stuff that I've read.  And, to me at least, the influence is pretty obvious.  I've never read Robinson before, but after this, I plan on giving another of his books a try.

I've also been reading through a biography of Talleyrand by Duff Cooper, also a good read, though I've not gotten too far into it yet. 

[Sky]

Been reading the first Brust compilation, Jhereg. Great stuff, like a detective noir in a fantasy setting. Thanks for the recommendation!

Just got in The God Delusion by Dawkins, one of my favorite authors. Great read, but I'm already sold as I'm firmly agnostic (and even my agnosticism would lean to deism at best, not theism). I think he pushes it a bit far with straight-up atheism because I think it's still a bit early in the game to be making declarations, but in any case I think the best we can do is a big shrug. No way to know, but I do know that no world religion is correct. Good for community building, good for some moral codes for people who need them dictated to them.

Unfortunately, Dawkins' tone is definitely biased against religion, so people who should be reading the book would be turned off very quick. Definitely worth a read.

[Abagadro]

I just finished The God Delusion last week. A really good read and he, as usual, makes devastatingly good points. His concept of the zeitgeist is really good and has me fired up.  I used some of his conceptions of an evolved rational morality in my theory class the other night in fact.  I thought the structure of the book meandered a bit and was structured sorta weird. The first part of the book is so devastating that it kinda petered out at the end. Probably should have reversed the chapter order a bit.

[Sky]

I'm still in Chapter 2 where he's defining his terminology. I fall in his 'defacto atheist' category. Interesting.

[Abagadro]

Ya, I was going to talk about how the topics you raised in your post will be directly addressed in the book but figured you'd see that soon enough.

[Hoax]

About to finish God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Vonnegut (who I love as an author) as usual his stuff is fantastic.  Also picked up the third book of the Horus Heresy trilogy looking forward to it but haven't decided if I should re-read the first two or just get right to it.  I still haven't read Timequake or Slaughterhouse Five though.  The Sirens of Titan is by far the book that had the most profound impact on my during/after reading it.

Also I happened across a copy of a Neal Stephenson book in one of those outside discount racks from a series called the Baroque cycle, anyone read any of that?  I loved Snow Crash but found The Diamond Age to be sort of heavy on technical details but still interesting.  So I was tempted but figured I would ask here first since it was book two.

[Abagadro]

Also I happened across a copy of a Neal Stephenson book in one of those outside discount racks from a series called the Baroque cycle, anyone read any of that?

I've read all three (which is shit-ton of reading, all three books are over 1000 pages in hardback). I liked them quite a bit although I liked some story-lines more than others (the characters diverge into essentially separate stories and then come back together off and on). It's historical fiction taking place in the late 17th century.  Much of it is about the development of commerce and science in Europe with some wild adventurism thrown in. It's really hard to describe.  It's a tad bloated but Stephenson is such a good writer that you can overlook some of that to get to the pearls (i.e. almost all the Jack Shaftoe stuff and most of the Daniel stuff). The history is also really interesting and seems well-researched.

If you want a taste of Stephenson doing this sort of thing on a (relatively) smaller scale I would suggest picking up Cryptonomicon which takes place during WWII and is only one book.

[Samwise]

I'm about 2/3rds of the way through the second book of the Baroque Cycle myself.  Jack is the man.  The bit with the Cabal and the musketeers was so good I went back and reread it before moving on to the next chapter.

I'd recommend reading book 1 first, though.  Book 2 dives right in without much in the way of recap.

[Hoax]

Yeah I've enjoyed his stuff but you never know I'll pick up book 2 and 1 asap, thanks guys. 

[Mazakiel]

I finished Variable Star a few days ago.  It was a decent, quick read, only bogged down by what I found to be a rather heavy-handed reference to September 11/Iraq and how it ushered in The Dark Ages.  The ending seemed rather abrupt though. 

I also read through 'Three Days to Never' by Tim Powers this weekend.  While nothing spectacular, it was an entertaining read that kept me interested enough to finish it in a day.  An occult society and the Mossad are after a guy and his daughter because of a tape of Peewee's Big Adventure.  Einstein and Charlie Chaplin are also involved.  Sounds pretty screwy, which is pretty much the only reason I ended up picking the book up.  I am glad I did though. 

[Viin]

I'm half way through the second The Prince of Nothing book.. I really enjoy his writing. I believe that was recommended by someone on this thread - thanks, whoever that was.

I really like Neal Stephenson but I haven't been able to get into his Baroque Cycle books. I have the second one but haven't started reading it yet.

[WayAbvPar]

Having seen it recommended over and over, I finally picked up American Gods. Very interesting so far...I like it.

[naum]

Recent reads

The Great Turning by David Korten
The culture battle of Empire (domination) vs. Earth Community (partnership), by the author of When Corporations Rule The World... ...best book I've read this year...

Licensed to Kill by Robert Young Pelton
The author of Dangerous Places with a firsthand look at PMC outfits, from Blackwater to even shadier types. Non-partisan, you can tell that the author bonded with PMC pals, but it's an engrossing look into this phenomenon that's so pervasive now... ...you won't be able to put it down and most of you here would really enjoy it...

The Prince of Marshes  by Rory Stewart
30 year old Brit dude shows up in Iraq and nabs a provincial governor slot. Non-partisan read, just a log of Rory's personal dealings and brokering between the Iraqi tribes and coalition masters -- but very indicting of the post-occupation fiasco nevertheless.

Talking Right by Geoffrey Nunberg
Been a rash of books by linguists on past decades right wing dominance of media persuasiveness and right wing media bias including "framing" poster boy George Lakoff ("Whose Freedom"), but Nunberg's book is the supeirior offering, and he lays out the truth. 

The Politics of Jesus by Obery Hendricks
A leftist framing of the gospel message, and a scathing indictment of Republican politics and conservative indifference to economic injustice and political deceit. A call for social justice.

The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil
GNR (Genetics, Nanotech, Robotics) revolution will bring immortality to humans, ability to upload/download ourselves and Kurzweil believes it may come sooner than even many of the rosy eyed of optimists can conceive, 20-30 years, and he's doing everything in his power to stay allive until then. A lengthy intro chapter charts our current tech progress and how it's not linear, but exponential, whether we're talking about chip speed, memory, cell phone proliferation, etc... Kurzweil is a utopian but all should read this and ponder cultural and political waves that will be wrought as we wrestle with implications of hyper advancing tech.

[Johny Cee]

News I thought may interest people,  from http://en.glencook.org/index.php/GCW_Interview :

Interviewer: Speaking of clamoring for more stories, what do you have in the pipes today?

Glen Cook: Well, there's a company called... I never remember this... There's a company who's name I can't recall for the life of me right at the moment - they are reprinting almost all of my backlist. The Garrett books are all going to be reissued starting next year. New would be another new Garrett book, which is almost done. Beyond that, I have to do the final Instrumentalities book, which I'm working on currently. After that, most likely two more Black Company books, but I don't know.

Editor's note - According to Amazon.com, Night Shade Books will be re-printing Passage at Arms in March of 2007. This is probably the publisher Mr. Cook was trying to remember. The publisher's page also lists Sung in Blood and A Cruel Wind, an omnibus of the first three Dread Empire books.

Passage at Arms is my favorite standalone Cook novel.  It's Das Boot, in space.  Lots of paranoia and mental breakdown in the face of assault by a superior (both technologically and morally) alien civilazation.

This also confirms new Garrett in the pipeline.  The Garrett books pretty much single-handedly invented supernatural detective/fantasy noir that's so popular now (the Anita Blake books and the Dresden books are examples.)

It also confirms that new Black Company will be in the works in the next couple years,  which should be very interesting considering where the series was left after Soldiers Live.

Tower of Fear should be reprinted soon,  according to Amazon.  A story about evil and rebellion in a Middle Easternish city, chock full of moral compromise and shifting alliances.

[Kryptec]

I second the recommendation on Passage of Arms. Excellent. The Starfishers trilogy is set in the same universe and is also quite good.

Others I’ve read recently.

Fast Food Nation – Pretty engrossing. Not quite sure how it’s going to work out as a movie and fear that attaching a fictional film to the same title will negate some of the points he makes. Still a good read.

Nothing Like it in the World – Stephen Ambrose. If you like Stephen Ambrose you’ll like this book – if not you should probably give it a pass. Not his best effort but still an interesting read about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad.

109 East Palace – Jennet Conant. A different take on Los Alamos and the building of the bomb concentrating on what it was like to live there during the war. No details on the bomb making, lot of details on that living conditions were like and such. Definitely different, might not appeal to many.

Rising Tide – John M. Barry. An account of the Mississippi flood of 1927 which was really a very good read. Think Katrina was bad? Read this book – at the time giving federal assistance to victims of natural disasters was discouraged. I recommend this book highly.

Two Vernor Vinge books – A Deepness in the Sky. Very good. As usual he creates an alien race that is very believable and who you start rooting for over the humans. Or at least most of the humans.

Rainbows End – an interesting look at the near future using extrapolation of current trends. I think it shares some interesting speculation with a book mentioned previously, The Singularity is Near. This is a book I’ve been meaning to read for some time and I’m glad it was brought up as it reminded me to order.

Other lighter reading. Read the first two S.M. Stirling books in the Dies the Fire trilogy and although they were kind of an interesting read I found the whole premise so far fetched that I’ve pretty much concluded I’ll read the final book only if I find it in a bargain bin. Shame usually he’s one of my favorite authors.

Reread the first five books in the Hornblower saga. Good stuff. Found out that there’s several I’ve never read so now I’m on the hunt for them.

[Sky]

As usual he creates an alien race that is very believable and who you start rooting for over the humans. Or at least most of the humans.

Like that's tough?

I root for the shark when I hear about shark attacks. We get millions of them every year, they get maybe a dozen of us on a good year. Go sharks!

[Ironwood]

It was a while ago, but when I read Deepness, I remember thinking that it was bollocks.

[Big Gulp]

A call for social justice socialist theft.

Fixed that for ya.

[Sky]

Too much goodness. Just got in Book of Taltos by Brust, still chipping away at The God Delusion by Dawkins, was given The United States of Arugula (a history of the refinement of american cuisine), we just got World War Z which I snatched off the shelf, I've got a couple Ubuntu Linux books in (now to find a machine that'll run it, the USFF dells don't like the installer), plus two more fic books I can't remember that are sitting at home. And I'm rereading Lovecraft for my bedtime stories, I've got a nice Library of America compilation.

[schild]

I just picked up jPod. Liking it! Also got that short story collection from Chuck Palahniuk. Picked up the 2nd and 3rd volume of Ex Machina (still amazing stuff). Oh, and an illustrated Tale of the Genji from Amano (the guy who did the art for Vampire Hunter D), one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

Has anyone else read jPod? Does it stay awesome?

[Polysorbate80]

Other lighter reading. Read the first two S.M. Stirling books in the Dies the Fire trilogy and although they were kind of an interesting read I found the whole premise so far fetched that I’ve pretty much concluded I’ll read the final book only if I find it in a bargain bin. Shame usually he’s one of my favorite authors.

I've also read the first two, and while I've got a host of problems with various factors in them the chief one is nothing fucking happens in book two.  At all. 

He could have wrapped it up in a one-page prologue for the third book.  Which I won't read; we have it laying around here but the wife foolishly read it first, so I just got her to spoil it for me--and there were no surprises that I didn't already predict.