Book chat!

[HaemishM]

Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. I mean shit, you want to talk about classics, take the whole 800 page full meal deal.

[WayAbvPar]

Heh- when I typed 'classics', the first two titles I thought of (that I haven't yet read) were Anna Karenina and War and Peace. Get outta my head!

[WayAbvPar]

Snowcrash is a very good book but you could just read the first 18 pages and stop there. They are like a novellete in their own right, which I term the funniest 18 pages ever written by man. I've lost 2 girlfriends in the past because they couldn't understand how I could laugh so hard I cried over just reading a book.

Amazon came through yesterday. I finished Fight Club (good book...has some interesting differences from the movie), so I started on Snow Crash today. The first 18 pages are great...funny, interesting, and quirky. It has a special meaning for me, since I worked for Godfather's Pizza in high school and we used to joke that the mob ran it =)

[Shavnir]

I'm also finishing up Cryptonomicon.  Something about an offhand comment from my friends ruining the ending has stifled my reading of the last 60 pages or so :/  I have Quicksilver, still new-book fresh waiting for me.

As for Diamond Age...it is set in Snow Crash's future, but it just dosen't feel right.  It dosen't resemble Cryptonomicon, and it dosen't really resemble Snow Crash.  

One interesting thing is I've noticed (at least in Diamond Age and Cryptonomicon) is that Neal Stephenson likes to refrence back to Snow Crash a lot.

[Bstaz]

Did anyone here finish Quicksilver?  I got about 200 pages in before it came down to gouging my eyes out or stopping reading it.  

Does anything actually happen in this book at some point to justify pushing past the pain and finishing the book?

[WayAbvPar]

Finished Snow Crash (which I loved- props to all of you who put me on it), and am a few dozen pages into Cryptonomicon. Not having an advanced degree in mathematics or applied physics or the like, I have decided to treat the formulas and in depth treatises in the same fashion that I treat the LotR songs and poetry- a quick scan for plot points, and then ignore them =)

[WayAbvPar]

Thanks to all of you who recommended Stephenson- Cryptonomicon was incredible. It took me about 6 weeks to finish (I read 2 poker books during the same time =) ), and I never wanted it to end.

[ClydeJr]

I've read SnowCrash, Cryptonomicon, and Diamond Age and thought they were all good. I personally think his other book Zodiac (main character is a bio-chemist turned eco-defender) is really good too.

Tad William's Otherland books (4 in total) are also a nice hefty read.

[RipSnort]

Waiting for the next book in the songs of ice and fire series I was hankering for another "epic" like read and came across Steven Erikson's series. The Malazan Book of the Fallen. Kind of a Black company on Steroids. Some great characters like Cladan Brood, Anomander Rake and Coltaine's chain of dogs. Anyone checked that out? His world would make a great mmo setting.

[HaemishM]

After finishing Madame Bovary, I got the hankering for some Hunter S. Thompson (go figure). I picked up the copy of The Great Shark Hunt that I'd had sitting around forever and never read.

Fucking hysterical.

[WayAbvPar]

Man, it has been FOREVER since I read that (or any other HST, for that matter). Gotta go back and refresh one of these days.

[Dren]

The Curse of Chalion by Bujold (fantasy novel picked up because of massive recommendation on rec.arts.sf.written).

This is a very good read.  Mature writing with an emphasis on relationships and an interesting theological system.  I'm just finishing the second book Paladin of Souls and am enjoying it just as much or more.  The theology is explained even further and a bit more action is introduced too.

Don't expect much in the way of fantasy or magic.  The "magic" is mostly spiritual in nature and subdued.  Any action requires an equal reaction so people can't just run around striking others down with lightening bolts.

I recommend these books.  Dig it out of the trunk!

[WayAbvPar]

Just read a couple of non-fiction books this week that I would recommend to anyone- Bringing Down the House (about the MIT blackjack teams of the 1990s) and Moneyball (about how the Oakland A's front office implemented some different ways to evaluate baseball players). Both are very quick reads, and I found them fascinating. If you are a baseball fan AT ALL you must read Moneyball.

Now starting back on the Aubrey-Maturin adventures- next up- The Mauritius Command.

[Furiously]

The Count of Monte Cristo is a great classic.

[Mr_PeaCH]

Did anyone here finish Quicksilver?  I got about 200 pages in before it came down to gouging my eyes out or stopping reading it.  

Does anything actually happen in this book at some point to justify pushing past the pain and finishing the book?

Nobody?  Cause I have exactly the same issue with Quicksilver as Bstaz.  Pain.

And Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon are two of my all-time all-time favorite reads.

[Margalis]

That Moneyball strategy is really working out great isn't it?

[Abagadro]

Re: Quicksilver/The Baroque Cycle.

I've read all three of the books in the series.  There are huge, long stretches of pure, unadulterated brilliance in these books. But there are stretches of tedium as well (most everything having to do with Eliza frankly).  All the stuff with Jack is kickass and a good chunk of the stuff with Waterhouse/Newton is interesting in many ways.  Just need to take the good with the bad I suppose. He should have just written Jack's story with Eliza in the background as motivation.

[WayAbvPar]

That Moneyball strategy is really working out great isn't it?

It worked pretty well 1999-2002 or so. Then the book came out (plus other people were getting wind of their methods), so suddenly they were not the only people bidding on the diamonds in the rough. It is still astonishing how much 'old school baseball wisdom' you still hear bandied about (by geniuses like Joe Morgan) that is out and out wrong when you look at it objectively.

[Hoax]

Oh Oh Oh books I've read!

Snow Crash was a life-defining moment for me when I read it around the age of 14, I should read it again I'd wager.

I read about half of Diamond Age recently but the techno-talk was getting over the top at times (enjoyed the story) and for some reason I put it down.

Hyperion was a GREAT fucking story, I devoured and loved... even the ending was great and satisfying.

Da Vinci Code / Of Angels and Demons:  read it in one sitting on the plane, it sucked less then other airport bookstore choices I've made but still nothing worth talking about here imo.

Anyways, just thought I'd point out I've actually read a majority of things being talked about in this book thread and it made me feel smart for a fleeting minute.

[voodoolily]

I think I've mentioned this one before, but if any of you like non fiction, I must recommend Guns, Germs and Steel. Great book. Another good one is Please Kill Me- the Uncensored Oral History of Punk, which is an entertaining synopsis of the NY punk scene in the 1970s and 80s, comprised primarily of interviews.

[stray]

Another good one is Please Kill Me- the Uncensored Oral History of Punk

OK, you're cool.








About that "husboyfriend" of yours......Does he like this book too? Because I do 

[voodoolily]

Another good one is Please Kill Me- the Uncensored Oral History of Punk

OK, you're cool.








About that "husboyfriend" of yours......Does he like this book too? Because I do 

You big dork. Stop flirting with me. 

[stray]

Oops  :-D

Great book though. Some of my favorite bands as well.

[Krakrok]

Anyone who likes Snow Crash will probably like The Last Dancer by Daniel Keys Moran and the other books in it's universe.

[Bunk]

Took Snow Crash on my last business trip on the advice of this thread. Big thanks to all of you, a great book. I'll deffinately have to pick up Cryptinomicon now.

Most recent read I would recommend is Ilium by Dan Simmons. Really interesting take on the Iliad, with a strong sci-fi bend.

[Trippy]

That Moneyball strategy is really working out great isn't it?

It's not helping that they have had so many injuries -- Swisher (one of the ones featured in the book), Harden (their best pitcher), Crosby, Bradford, Dotel, Calero, and so on and so forth. It's clear that much if not most of their previous success was because of the Big Three but this year they just can't score runs (last in the AL currently) and they are really missing Miguel Tejada now.

[Daydreamer]

How are school teachers like Sumo wrestlers?
How are real-estate agents like the KKK?
Why do crack dealers still live with their mothers?

Just finished Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt, an economist with the Univeristy of Chicago.  A sort of economics pop sci book told in the anecdote heavy style of Richard Dawkins or Stephen Jay Gould thats great fun through and through.  A bit short for the sticker price, but well worth checking out from a library or browsing through in a bookstore on a lazy afternoon.

[Toast]

"Know it all"

Funny memoir type book by a guy who is trying to read the entire Encyclopedia Brittanica.

[Rasix]

Took Snow Crash on my last business trip on the advice of this thread. Big thanks to all of you, a great book.

I'm not quite sure what to think of Snow Crash.  Parts of the book were goddamn astoundingly good.  Raven was one of the most badass villians ever put to paper. But, it really bogged down in parts where it delved heavily into the linguistic shit.  I really didn't give a fuck about any of it and it bored me to tears while often confusing the ever living shit out of me to the point I had to re-read parts like 5 times.

I'm unsure if I'll ever pick up another one of his books.  His forays into the linguistical stuff reminded me of wading through the goddamn whaling industry crap in Moby Dick.

[Abagadro]

I've read all of Stephenson's books and he is the king of digressions.  Sometimes they are interesting, sometimes they are not. Sometimes they bore the shit out of you to the point of wondering why they are in there and sometimes they are quite integral to the story (like all his Turing stuff in Crypto). 

However, at least 60% of every book is so astoundingly good you have to overlook that.  There were 200-300 page stretches of the Baroque cycle that were some of the best storytelling I have ever read, but they were sandwiched (and sometimes intersperced to an unfortunate degree) with the other stuff.

[WayAbvPar]

Cryptonomicon delves pretty deeply into cryptography and the associated math, but it is pretty easy to skim. You can treat it like I treat the poetry and songs when I re-read LotR- I skim past anything in italics 

[Margalis]

Snow Crash had large sections of what in sci-fi is normally called a "data dump" where it's just pages and pages of tell don't show. "Here's the whole plot!"

The actual plot of Snow Crash was boring and stupid.

[Abagadro]

For whomever mentioned Illium up there (yes I'm that lazy to not go dig it up), the sequal Olympos is coming out on July 1. I've been looking forward to it so have been keeping an eye out. Seems like it has been a while in publishing sequal terms.

[penfold]

Ill definetly try those Last Dancer books, I do like that corporate cyber alternate future thing alot of this genre have. Other similar are the Games Workshop novels set in the Dark Future universe (GWs version of Car Wars)  Jack Yeovils - Route 666, Comeback Tour, Demon Download and Krokodil Tears. Comeback Tour being my favourite, Ive always seen Elvis in a different light ever since.

Current reads -

Coldheart Canyon by Clive Barker.
Sheesh, this guy is a pervert. So far its been pages and pages of filth, the Gushing Girls Part 3 of the literary horror world.

Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry.
Re-reading this, i liked because a fair bit of it focuses on Vader, the Emp and the sort of day to day things that happen in the Imperial Court.


Recent reads.

Revenge of the Sith
The book of the film. Some nice background info left out of film.

Settling Accounts - Return Engagement by Harry Turtledove
The latest in the American Empire alternative history novels. I kinda missed all the others, and picked this up in the airport the other day through lack of choice. Ill get the others i think, its style was very similar to the WorldWar/Colonisation series ive read following various peoples lives in during an American Civil War set in the 40s.

Ravenor Returns by Dan Abnett.
The latest Ravenor novel, following an inquisitor in the 40k universe. Abnett is one of the better, if not best of the 40k stable at the moment, and this didnt disappoint. All the usual 40k stuff but this time featuring a backstory with an item central to the plot remarkably similar to Snowcrash discussed above.

Guns of Tanith by Dan Abnett
One of the Gaunts Ghosts novels, this time set on a sky world, with armoured airships and cities above the clouds. Gaunts Ghosts are definetly the best of the imperial guard series from GW.

Total War 2006 by Simon Pearson.
Alternate history written in the style of a history book. Although written in 1999, so misses 9-11 and the current Iraq occupation otherwise its a sobering recollection of future events that could easily happen I enjoyed.

The Third World War by Humphrey Hawksley.
Much as above, written in 2003 so more contemporary. Not as good, as certain nations act too illogically in the events that lead up to everyone tossing nukes about like its the 80s. Other than that though it was a fairly good read.

Earth Abides by George R Stewart.
I was on an armageddon buzz last month hence the above and this one. A classic from 1949, a tale following a man and community over a few generations following mankinds near extinction. The 3rd or 4th time ive read and just as enjoyable.

[Bunk]

For whomever mentioned Illium up there (yes I'm that lazy to not go dig it up), the sequal Olympos is coming out on July 1. I've been looking forward to it so have been keeping an eye out. Seems like it has been a while in publishing sequal terms.

Wrong thread, but yes, I am eagerly awaiting the sequal. I liked Ilium enough that I'll even likely shell out the $40 for Olympos in hardcover.