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Due to popular demand,  let's get a fresh start on Books!  We need to get on schedule for "Bride of the Book Thread" in Winter of '09 as well.

I went a little crazy at lunch today.  The local Borders was selling their back stocks of hardcover bestsellers for a pittiance,  probably to clear space for pre-Christmas.  Books I picked up:

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke -- Hardcover for $4.99 --

I've read this already.  It's set in England around the Napoleonic Wars,  basically historical fiction but there are two (and only two) sorceror types,  along with a plot thread about a faerie king doing old-school fairy story type stuff.  A very well written book,  it's a doorstop that just seems to glide right by.

This is one of the most critically acclaimed fantasy-type books in recent years.


Dune by Frank Herbert -- Hardcover for $7.99 --

A scifi classic.  It's been a few years since I reread it,  and I've been jonesing for a decent hardcover copy to throw on my bookshelves in my living room.  It's really science-fantasy,  but maintains a distinct flavor of plausibility throughout.

If you haven't read this book,  you should.


Intelligence in War by John Keegan -- Hardcover for $5.99 --

I haven't read this one before, though I have a ton of respect for Keegan.  His History of Warfare is a great book,  with loads of insight for anyone interested in anthropology, history, military history, historical fiction or fantasy.  Keegan generally has an approachable and entertaining narrative style.


The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana  by Umberto Eco -- Hardcover for $4.99 --

I've eyed this book before.  Eco is a well-regarded historical fiction writer who's most famous book is probably The Name of the Rose (made into a movie starring Sean Connery and a very young Christian Slater).  I've started and stopped Rose a couple of times,  just because I need some momentum to get into it.

I remember the book being well-reviewed,  so for $4.99 at worst I can put on my shelf until I hit a real dry spell.

There was a pile of decent hardcovers I already own as well.  Anansi Boys, a couple of King's Dark Tower books, some other recent King books (I burned out on King a few years ago,  and mostly just read the Tower books to see the series finished), etc.

Not on sale:

I picked up what appears to be Michael Chabon's latest,  Gentlemen of the Road.  I loved his The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (which also won a Pulitzer),  but was lukewarm about The Final Solution.  Been meaning to pick up The Yiddish Policeman's Union,  but have held off for paperback.

I just finished Clive Barker's "Weaveworld" and am now moving on to "The Rediscovery of Man", the complete collection short stories of Cordwainer Smith. Some of the best science fiction most people have never heard of.

Cordwainer Smith is another author I've been meaning to pick up,  but it's never in stock in bookstores.  I'm a habitual procrastinator when ordering online....

How is the Clive Barker stuff?  I'm always interested in some decent horror.

Listened to The light of other days (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Light_Of_Other_Days) by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter recently. It's a "near future" story exploring what-if themes, specifically on how future technology could radically affect society. In the book, a 'worm[hole] cam' is invented which lets anyone see anything that happens anywhere in the world.. and then ultimately into the past.

It's interesting to read about the envisioned social and political changes to deal with such a device. One even dreams of such a day...

Honestly, I thought Clarke was dead, but no, very much alive and the book is very good.

Clive Barker's short stories are very very good. You can order Books of Blood Vol 1 - 3 from Amazon or bookstores but I got the Omnibus (4-6) from Amazon UK. His longer stuff is very uneven, I would start with the short stuff. Best horror short fiction I've read hands-down.

Cordwainer Smith is awesome but indescribable. Probably hard to find in the real world.

Edit: The cryptic line above means "order online." His stuff doesn't fall neatly into categories - it isn't hard sci-fi or speculative or future fantasy or anything like that. It's just weird and imaginitive.

Two recommendations, one fantasy the other not:

The Lies of Locke Lamora
Best fantasy I've read since The Name of the Wind (better than Acacia just on enjoyability factor, I think).

Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters
Very interesting evo psych take on why humans are the way they are. A light read, really, but rather incisive.

I had to read Keegan in a military history course in college.  I think it was The Faces of Battle or something like that.  Good read.

The next book in the series, Red Sails under Red Skies, is out now. 

Since you name dropped three of the top recent debut fantasy novels,  have you read Winterbirth yet?  I've heard some really good things,  but at a quick glance wasn't sure if I wanted to pick it up.  There's been alot of bloggers mentioning it up there as a top debut.

I'm having trouble getting into Acacia (widespread essentially modern drug addiction in a agricultural based high mortality peasant society is always off-puting,  because it makes no rational sense.)

It's sort of like the "no scarcity" sub-genre of scifi literature....   so obviously false on it's face that it's not worth the time required to skim read through the false allegory. 

I know, just haven't ordered it yet.


No, haven't even heard of it.


The way I eventually felt comfortable reading Acacia was by realizing that the author is actually interested in history, not fantasy. Because of this, the book comes across in the end as, well, kind of cynical.

Anyone tried the Kindle yet?  I'm actually somewhat intrigued by it.

Why? How is it different from every other e-reader piece of junk.

I think mobile phones/pdas, and especially the iphone, have a better chance of making e-books popular than actual e-readers.

I decided to finally start reading Game of Thrones while on vacation two weeks ago. Yea, I'm understanding all the hype around the series - is good shit.


I like Barker's stuff, but his long books tend to "read long" is the best way I can put it. Creative stuff though.

My favorites for horror would be Dan Simmons and Robert McCammon. McCammon's stuff can be a bit on the easy read side at times, but is always entertaining. Dan Simmons has written some of my favorite books in the last decade or two.

Apparently it's been designed with the old flaws in mind. Good UI, wireless, integrated directly with Amazon for easy purchase of books, I think it's got a decent auto-sub model for things like newspapers, and the view is supposed to be crisp and sharp -- designed to mimic ink on paper.

Since I tend to drag a case full of books with me wherever I go, I'd love to find a workable e-reader.

Barker's long fiction retreads the same basic threads in different books, which is part of the reason it "reads long." Also his characterization and dialogue are not the best, which can keep you at arm's distance.

So I would start with short fiction, move on to "The Hellbound Heart" novella then go from there.

Dan Simmons is someone I want to read more of. All I've read of his is the Hyperion series. Right after he finished that he released some short story comendium IIRC that was supposed to be quite good. I've been a bit lazy about it because while the first Hyperion was good the later ones got progressively worse.

For me it would have to be something like this (http://www.epson.co.jp/e/newsroom/2006/news_20060612.htm). Basically a plastic sheet of paper only that receives it's power wirelessly (http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6891.html) from say your cell phone. The piece of plastic epaper would just be a second display for the cell phone. Even better would be a paperback that was filled with epaper where you just flash it with whatever book you want.

All the current e-readers like the Kindle are just so 1980's looking. I can't get over the non-white background that they have.

Edit: When you can buy a wireless SD card (http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6891.html) the bulky Kindle seems like a joke.

Hey, I thought the other top debut was Abercrombie, but somewhat I doubt Raph would be interested. Like suggesting him to read Erikson.

What he said. It looks like a much better design. I don't know where you are getting that it is "bulky" consider it is the size of a paperback and weighs 10 oz.

It appears Kindle is being an ass with DRM -- not even letting you load your own pdfs and such. As I understand it, it'd be like the iPod only allowing installation of songs you bought through iTunes.

That more or less kills it for me.

I prefer the larger size -- it's about the size of a paperback, which is what I want. I want to be able to hold it like a book, and read it like a book without any excessive eye-strain. If I wanted something for technical references (to hold, say, the 83 bajillion O'Reilly books I might ever possibly want for any programming job, language, or task EVER) I'd want an entirely different format. (In that case, I'd want something like Microsoft's Surface built into a desktop so I can drag reference pages around and bundle them together for synthesis -- two monitors just don't cut it anymore).

Bookmark post so this thread shows up in my 'new replies to your posts' list. Please ignore.

This post is brought to you by: Ur So Gay (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oepvnd524Y), by Katy Perry

I finished reading 'The Company' the other week, some female Australian/English author who's name slips my mind. I think it might be out of print now. Historical fiction about a mutiny/shipwreck off the coast of Western Australia back in the 17th century which descents into tyrannical sadism and such. Could have been good but was ultimately pedestrian.

Then I read 'Bel Canto' by Ann Patchett. Really excellent and I recommend it.

Just finishing up Gogol's 'Diary of a Madman and Other Stories' at the moment. Enjoying it immensely.

To paraphrase Morat:  Simmons can't write endings for shit.

I really liked the first two Hyperion books,  but the two Endymion ones were pretty blah.  The Endymion books just felt lazy, discarding some of the better portions of how the Hyperion books ended up and retreading huge swathes of the Hyperion plot.

The Terror is a great, great book for the first 90% of it.  It then proceeds to fuck up all the goodwill it's earned in an awful ending.

I liked Illium.  Good mix of interesting story, literary allusion, and character development.  Olympos turned me off in the first 100 pages and then got packed up when I moved,  never to be seen again.  It's probably lurking in the same unpacked box that Perdido Street Station is.

I think John C. Wright has a pretty similar style:  hard scifi with loads of literary, historic and mythic background and allusion.  I find Wright to be far more readable.

I've had enough of "can't write endings" from guys like Stephen King to fill me forever.

The thing is, some books don't need endings. Hyperion was fine as a standalone book. It didn't need any sort of explanation or conclusion.

Yeah, let the books stand in some mystery. Or get a fucking blog to explain it or something.

I'm trying to battle through Declare, imo the weakest of Tim Power's stuff I've read thus far. Waaay too much pointless 'flavor' text. Every time the guy crosses the street, I don't need a detailed description. It's funny because he wavers between great flavor (soviet soldiers using a tobacco stand as a guard station, hassling passerby) to utterly time-wasting (listing every kind of business on a street as the guy crosses it, for no reason at all).

It really detracts from a story when I sleepily skip a couple paragraphs, realize I did so and go back to read them only to find I may as well have skipped them anyway.

The story is intruiging enough to keep my battling through, but I really want to move on to the Venice-based book.

For more of the Horror side of Simmons, you might try Carrion Comfort. It's a little on the disturbing side at points, but has some interesting ideas mixing together psychic vampires, Nazis, and sleezy Hollywood directors.

Most recent Barker I read was Coldheart Canyon. It's interesting - kind of a ghost story revolving around the golden age of Hollywood. Gets a little fucked up at points, but that's to be expected with Barker. I also found it unique in that he filled it full of main characters that don't fit the steriotype of most books' heroes and heroines.

I read Carrion Comfort years before I picked up Hyperion. Probably should reread it since I've completely forgotten the plot. I do remember enjoying it alot, and still have the book on my shelf.

That offhand comment above made me remember another reason I haven't picked up Dan Simmons again - I read his blog. His politics were so distateful to me that it turned me off to all his writing.

He made fun of your religion?

Are you talking to me? Yes, my religion is actually the Church of Al Gore. You hit the nail right on the head champ.

Is stupid a religion?

Edit: This is probably not the appopriate place to discuss the specific politics of Dan Simmons or anyone else.

I have much the same problem with Orson Scott Card. In the end, I just said "Fuck it" and as long as he doesn't let the crazy into his books (or at least makes the crazy fit the books in an interesting way), I'm fine.

For how to let your politics bleed through into your books in eyebleedingly retarded ways, see Terry Goodkind, Objectivism, and "Faith of the Fallen/Naked Empire".

Ordered...

Ilium by Dan Simmons
Neuromancer by William Gibson
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle #1) by Neal Stephenson

Might want to order Olympos, The Confusion, and System of the World now and get it out of the way.  Once I got into those series I had a very hard time putting them down.

Power's Declare totally turned around for me. Took me a month to get through the first half and a couple days to finish it, and I couldn't turn off the light last night until I finished the excellent author's note at the end. Great book, lots of fun. Starts slow but then it doesn't let up. Maybe a /wee/ bit predictable, but in a good way, like an action movie.

Read Coetzee's Disgrace. Awesome. Highly recommend.

Just finished the second Locke Lamora book last night.  Fun stuff, and I'm curious to see how he'll handle the next book. 

We'll finally be introduced to the lady in Locke's life.

Oh good, he's been building up to that. 

I'm mainly curious how the final snaggle in things at the end of the book gets resolved.  I'm sure it will be, I just wonder how, and if it'll be pulled off well. 

I purchased today:

Pirate Freedom by Gene Wolfe -- Seminary graduate gets thrown back in time and becomes a pirate.  If it was any other author besides Wolfe,  wouldn't bother.

Books of Blood by Clive Barker -- Going to give Barker a shot.

Ice, Iron and Gold by S.M. Stirling -- Short story collection.  I'm a little leery of Stirling now,  but the collection is from Nightshade Books.  Nightshade has been doing some pretty good things with collecting and reprinting older and out of date scifi and fantasy material that's top-notch,  including all of the older Glen Cook stuff.


There's also a new trade paperback collecting the first three Black Company novels.  If you've thought about picking up Cook's stuff,  might be a good place to start.

Let me know what you think of the Barker stuff. Nobody I know in real life shares my taste in books and movies so I'm salivating to discuss things with people who like what I do or at least have read it...

Yep, I have that on order along with third and fourth of Jordan, Robin Hobb first and Donaldson last in the Gap series.

Then I'll go on a mission to retrieve all Bakker in hardcover and old covers. And if I can't, canadian editions.

Currently being Horrified by The Innocent Man by Grisham.

Tore through No Country for Old Men in three days. Not my usual fare but the movie intrigued me. Now still digesting both.

Having neither read nor seen it, in your opinion, read the book first?

Finished Tim Power's Drawing of the Dark. Fun read, but the plot was thiiiin. Ultimately let down by it, though I don't regret the read because it was some fun poking around with anglo-saxon mythology and I'm a viking mofo by way of eire, so it hit on all counts. A bit too much telegraphing the plot twists, no surprises at all in the book if you pay attention and the characters begin to react unrealistically after a while, like he got a bit lazy writing it.

Started Expiration Date, this book is very odd. Fun read, set in LA during the time I lived there in the early 90s.

edit: Just got in my cooks illustrated book club thingy book: The New Best Recipe (http://www.amazon.com/New-Best-Recipe-All-New-Recipes/dp/0936184744). I'm a cooksillustrated whore. This book is massive, loaded with cooking goodness.

If you're going to read anything by Cormac McCarthy, read Blood Meridian. 

Drawing of the Dark was one of Power's very earliest books. He's improved a whole lot since those days. Have you read Last Call? I'm pretty sure Expiration Date is its sequel.

Tough call. They are almost identical except for some stuff in the last 5th. Depends on if you have a big thing about "imagining" the book yourself before you see someone's else's take on it. It is a good read though if you like his kind of writing.