The Sword and Laser discussion

Obxboy wrote: "Kyanni wrote: "Obxboy wrote: "Kyanni wrote: "Between Windup Girl and Bitter Seeds, I read Makers by Cory Doctorow. It grabbed my attention early and never let go."

LOVED Windup Girl. Now reading B..."

I am trying to decide which e-book reader to purchase.I had heard the iPad was a bit too heavy, but it can't be much heavier than a hardcover book.

In the ipad bn ereader, if you turn it sideways, it changes pages. :/

Kyanni wrote: "Obxboy wrote: "Kyanni wrote: "Obxboy wrote: "Kyanni wrote: "Between Windup Girl and Bitter Seeds, I read Makers by Cory Doctorow. It grabbed my attention early and never let go."

LOVED Windup Girl..."

It is a bit heavy at 1.5 pounds. However, tonight I worked in the lighting booth for a stage production for 2 hours and spent all of my down time reading Bitter Seeds without problem. You can change to a small two page presentation by turning the iPad sideways. You can also lock the iPad into the perspective you prefer. If you want just an e-reader, you can spend less money, but an iPad, obviously, will do a lot more than be a book reader. I read at the theater and listened to The Passage on the drive home with the same device.

I'm a chapter away from finishing Sailing Alone Around The World which, while neither Sword nor Laser, is a good book, especially if you're a sailor or a traveler.

When I finish that it's back into Laser-land. I started Stranger in a Strange Land and never finished it, so I intend to go back and do that.

I can only really handle two books at once, one audio book for work and one paper book for home.

Currently listening to "Daemon" by Daniel Suarez.

Currently reading "Count Zero" by William Gibson, because I never read the sprawl trilogy and I love cyber-punk.

I'm reading The Sparrow in hardcover and Battletech 37: Warrior en Garde on my Sony e-reader.

Tom wrote: "I'm reading The Sparrow in hardcover and Battletech 37: Warrior en Garde on my Sony e-reader."

The Sparrow is one of my favorite novels of any kind.

I'm still struggling to get though Makers I've been half way though it since March. I don't know what it is, I do like the book. I read the first half in about a day but my progress has stalled to a couple of pages a fortnight.

I've just finished The Bone Key which was a really fantastic collection of short, creepy, and sometimes a little bit sad horror stories and now I'm dipping into some Lovecraft, H.P. since he's part of the inspiration for the The Bone Key.

Sandi wrote: "Tom wrote: "I'm reading The Sparrow in hardcover and Battletech 37: Warrior en Garde on my Sony e-reader."

The Sparrow is one of my favorite novels of any kind."

Absolutely! I loved the idea of Jesuit explorers in space and diving into the book, it was so much more than that. I originally borrowed the book but halfway through it, I just had to have my own copy. I ended up e-mailing the author to compliment her work and she even took time to write me back. The singular comment made by the Father General at the end of the book I thought perfectly summed up the novel.

Jaime wrote: "Sandi wrote: The Sparrow is one of my favorite novels of any kind."
Absolutely! I loved the idea of Jesuit explorers in space and diving into the book, it was so much more than that.

I loved that book so much. I read it right around when I read Anathem, and cared so much more about the characters in it. I haven't read the sequel because I am not ready.

I just picked up
Boneshaker (I know I said I hate zombie books but this one was nominated for a Hugo, and the cyberpunk element might redeem it. Might.)
Out Stealing Horses

And I'm in the middle of a reading spree of the Hugo-nominated novelettes, short stories, and novellas. There is another thread about that around these parts.

Jenny, you have to read Children of God. Honestly, you will not regret it.

It always cracks me up to see Boneshaker described as a zombie novel. It's really steampunk with some minor zombie action. The zombies are not the main point of the book. I kind of liked that about it.

I got a Nook on Sunday and am reading The Passage on it. It's really good and hard to put down. I'm also reading Palimpsest because I've read all but two of the Hugo nominated novels and that's one of them. It's really, really weird and very artsy. I don't know if I would consider it to be SF&F though.

I started His Majesty's Dragon after seeing it here on Goodreads(where, I'm not sure?) I'm really digging it, very nice change of pace in the storytelling. I am especially enjoying the very proper British dialogue and mannerisms. About halfway through, it seems to be a great YA book, although not promoted as part of the genre. And to clarify, a great YA book to me is one I would like my kids to read, with very limited or no objectionable material in it- not necessarily a youthful main character or anything of that sort.

Good day to you madams and sirs :0)

Im reading Perdido Street Station, loving the world, not so much into the story yet, but then i'm only a couple of hundred pages in.

Finished my wild ride with Kay and the Ninth Driver with Lord of Emperors (my review). Now I'm returning to finish, in the next hour or so, another book club read: The Second Coming

After that, not sure what's next. I should read another Kay book, Under Heaven, but after reading Brooke's review, I may want to separate myself from the Sarantine Mosaic a bit before tackling a similar version in Asia. I've got a couple of anthologies to rush through, on short loan from the library so that could do the trick.

I too have started The Passage, in audio form. It's pretty good, though even at 4 hours in, he's really only built the back-story for the characters. Some weirdness has gone on, but I'm still not quite sure where it's all going to go. I'm definitely digging it.

I've also started reading The Blade Itself on my Kindle. It seems like a good book, though it's slower-going for me right now, as I'm finding myself with a LOT more time in my car than on my couch.

Sandi wrote: "Jenny, you have to read Children of God. Honestly, you will not regret it.

It always cracks me up to see Boneshaker described as a zombie novel. It's really steampunk..."

I definitely will, Sandi. I might re-read The Sparrow first!

And I'm glad to hear that zombies are minor in Boneshaker. I think they use them to sell the book, but it almost had the opposite effect on me! Haha. Looks like a lot of us are reading the Hugo nominees, should we put the novels in a separate discussion too, and say who we think should win before they are announced? (Do we have time?)

It's actually accidental that I'm reading the Hugo nominated novels. I think I had read 2 or 3 of them before the nominations were announced and I was wanting to read a couple more. Since I was down to having only two of the books unread, I decided to go for it. I'm almost done with Palimpsest and downloaded WWW:Wake on my Nook. I wasn't going to read WWW:Wake, but I figured I might as well since I'd gone that far.

Jon wrote: "Finished my wild ride with Kay and the Ninth Driver with Lord of Emperors (my review). Now I'm returning to finish, in the next hour or so, another book club read: The Second Coming

After that, ..."

My favorite Kay book is The Lions of Al-Rassan. If you haven't read that one I highly recommend it. I loved that world and all the characters.

Kate wrote: "I'm still struggling to get though Makers I've been half way though it since March. I don't know what it is, I do like the book. I read the first half in about a day but my progress ..."

Makers was a fun read for me. I guess having Suzanne Church writing for my local paper, and living in the Bay Area, it was easy for me to identify with the early part of the book.

I had the same struggles with "The Windup Girl". I could only get through a chapter a night.

Tony wrote: "Reading Dragonheart from Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series written by her son Todd McCaffrey.
Looking for advice on which of the series to read next. I started with this one and unsure ..."

The Todd McCaffrey books take place "during" some of the other books, I believe. I enjoyed his books. As for the "main" Dragonriders books, I preferred the later books, from The White Dragon onward. I haven't read the entire series, but what I've read is good no matter what you read, IMO.

As for What Else I'm reading, I'm reading a couple of the latest Rogue Angel books, Nice fluff, quick reads.
I tried The Ruling Sea, but couldn't get into it, same with The Desert Spear. Both of those books were sequels to books I really enjoyed.
Read the latest Matthew Reilly novel "5 Greatest Warriors". That was okay.
Read The Charlemagne Pursuit by Steve Berry and enjoyed it.
And I read Ark of Fire by C.M. Palov, and that one was enjoyable too.

Reading Ian Banks' Consider Phlebas based on recommendations from this group, and liking it so far. Also *still* working through The Discoverers in spurts (apparently it's my 'enjoyable albatross' of the year).

I just finished reading the 1st Dresden Files book, Storm Front. I really liked it. Look forward to reading more of those. Will finish up this months read now.

Carrie wrote: "Amy wrote: "The new Jacqueline Carey book, Nahmaah's Curse comes out Monday, so I'll be picking that up ASAP ..."

Oh man, I had no idea this was coming out soon. Thank you so much for mentioning i..."

I've been reading on the iPad. No problems here. B&N software was having some issues. I'm mostly reading on the Kindle app though.

Aeryn98 wrote: "My favorite Kay book is The Lions of Al-Rassan. If you haven't read that one I highly recommend it. I loved that world and all the characters. "

I've got it on my shelf, along with Ysabel, the Finnovar tapestry and Under Heaven>!

Have started working through Baudolino (the original Italian version). Finished the English translation last summer & just got the original... just as good a read the 2nd time around, so far!

Going to Germany next month, so I'm hoping to get the last two books of the Harry Potter series "Harry Potter und der Halbblutprinz" und "Harry Potter und die Heiligtümer des Todes" for my collection.

I've been a busy little reader this weekend, finishing Boneshaker (haha, read my review on that one!), The Plunder Room (a local author for a RL book club), and Out Stealing Horses (soooo good), as well as all the Hugo-nominated short stories and a few of the novelettes.

Next up - A Single Man (Isherwood), the last Girl Who book (Larsson), and whichever book comes in from interlibrary loan first that is more of a swordy/lasery bent (The Blade Itself, WWW:Wake, or Palimpsest).

I'm just finishing The Other Lands by David Anthony Durham, the second book in the Acacia trilogy. Really good.

I'm about halfway through WWW:Wake by Robert J. Sawyer, and really like it. It is similar in style to a combo of William Gibson and David Mitchell, maybe a little more math or web geekery than either of those. Definitely my favorite of the Hugo nominated novels so far!

I'm currently reading Transhuman, a book of short stories edited by Mark L. Van Name, whose stories I've really enjoyed.

I also just finished The Bereaved Parent. It's a book about coping with the loss of a child. I got it for friends who just lost their daughter. Another friend of mine who lost his son recommended it. I read it before giving it to them, and I found it very helpful to know what I could do to help them.

Loved WWW:Wake, although the second half was less about the intertwining stories and more about techie explanations of things. Some of the storylines got dropped but since it is the first line of the trilogy, I expect them to show up soon.

I'm about 75 pages into Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America and just can't get into it - I want to know more about the world but seem mired in little details, I'm not sure that's it. Would it make sense to say it reads like a boys' adventure comic, and I want more overarching story? There is this character who is secretly Jewish and advising Julian, and I can't help but think that his story is really the more interesting one. I'm trying to decide if I want to keep going - I wanted to read all the Hugo nominees, hrrrrm.

Jenny, Julian Comstock is a pretty unusual book. It's set in a post-apocalyptic, post-technological future and it's written as a Victorian biography. Much of what happens in the story is said between the lines. It's one of those books that seems to be one thing but is really another. Please, stick with it and look for clues about what's really going on.

I finished The Passage yesterday and am on to WWW:Wake. Once I finish WWW:Wake, I will have read all of this year's Hugo nominated novels.

Sandi wrote: "Jenny, Julian Comstock is a pretty unusual book. It's set in a post-apocalyptic, post-technological future and it's written as a Victorian biography. Much of what happens in the st..."
Thanks Sandi, I'll keep reading then. It was funny because when I tried to explain the storyline to someone, it sounded interesting to me despite my experience.

Rick wrote: "Everything I have started lately I have stalled out on, so I went back to something I stalled on a year ago to give it another shot. Picked back up on the Wheel of Time series at book 8, The..."</i>

Every time I try to read that series I get stuck at novel five. Thinking of trying them as audiobooks and seeing if that helps.

I'm reading [book:Daemon on my iPad and listening to Chasm City. Like both so far, but not far into either.

I just finished The Passage. Though it dragged on a bit in places, I would still recommend it to others. Part sci-fi, part thriller/survival, and oddly, part spiritual, it was quite good.

I'm moving on to read The Blade Itself and the rest of the First Law trilogy in audio, and I'll probably read along with whatever book is selected by S&L.

Finished Julian Comstock and The Blade Itself. I have to read Brain Rules for a cognitive learning reading group at work, but I will probably delve into Palimpsest or the last Stieg Larsson book first.

I liked WWW:Wake & Watch just fine, although there's some science & morality lessons built in there. It's kind of like the anime 'Serial Experiments Lain'. Here's the intro (nice song too):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_3Eu2...

George wrote: "Most of my reading these days is Audible editions during my commute (roughly 2-3 hours a day depending on LA traffic). Currently, I'm on Jay Lake's Green, and enjoyin..."

I'm re-reading The Dosadi Experiment, having first read it years ago in my teens. I also went back and read Whipping Star and the Tactful Saboteur so I've gone through them in reverse order.

But The Dosadi Experiment is far more polished than Whipping Star or Tactful Saboteur. Very well crafted book and true to Herbert's favourite themes; society hardened by adapting to harsh conditions, inter-species relationships and associated problems, systems of government and foundations of law. Brilliant stuff.

Re-reading The Dosadi Experiment sounds like fun! one of my favorite SciFi books of all times.

Managed to finish Cryptonomicon. I enjoyed the first 70% of the book, but was really disappointed with the abrupt ending. Especially given the length of the book. Oh well, I may try another Stephenson book, but not for a while.

I'm overdue for a Stephen King read. Moving on to Duma Key.

Cheers, Jim