The Sword and Laser discussion

I just picked up The Measure of the Magic by Terry Brooks, YAY!

I am reading Who Fears Death and American Gods. Just got this months choice Flashforward from the library.

I was trying to read "A Feast for Dragons", a back-and-forth read between GRRM's last two books, but I realized I don't have the heart for it right now, and the more I re-read ADWD, the more I find that book somewhat joyless in the early going.

So now I'm reading The Dragon's Pathsince it came for free with Leviathan Wakes on my Kindle, and the latter was a lot of fun. Also I found several good books at The Dollar Tree of late, including Inside Straight, God Save the Fan: How Preening Sportscasters, Soulless Leagues, and Athletes Who Speak in the Third Person Have Taken the Fun Out of Sports, and a Larry Niven collection of shorts. Never read him before.

Adding my report on Ready Player One. I'm halfway through & hooked. I'm already really sorry that it's going to end - or should I say I'm sorry that at some point, one way or another, it will say "Game Over"? I definitely think the audiobook is the way to go because Wil Wheaton is the perfect narrator for it.

Jonathan wrote: "I was trying to read "A Feast for Dragons", a back-and-forth read between GRRM's last two books, but I realized I don't have the heart for it right now, and the more I re-read ADWD, the more I find..."

My wife read the whole series for the first time back to back over the last couple of months (she's a rather speedy reader unlike me) and she has totally bogged on ADWD. I think that book got a pass from many just because they (we) wanted more story.

Anyway I just updated the last month thread so I'll cut n paste :)

I have started Ready Player One (as Audiobook) and am enjoying it so far (~10-15% in). Is tickling my nostalgia (for 80's) bone (so to speak).

Just finished up [Book: American Gods] (as Audiobook) and have been working my way through Terry Pratchett's Bromeliad Trilogy which is a light yet enjoyable read, plus juggling a couple of other books.

I just finished The Strain by Del Toro and Hogan. It was okay.

Just started Fort Freak, the latest Wild Cards mosaic novel, edited by GRR Martin. I'm not reading the latest Ice & Fire book because he lost me with the last one.

I just finished Endymion by Dan Simmons today. Wow what a great read and ride.

Just finished Kevin Mitnick's memoir and holy crap, is it good. It reads more like a techy thriller than an autobiography.

xenphi wrote: "Just finished Kevin Mitnick's memoir and holy crap, is it good. It reads more like a techy thriller than an autobiography."

That Ghost in the Wires or some such title? Need to add that to my to-read list.

In the middle of Ready Player One, and something Wil Wheaton did in the narration had me giggling in the car this morning. Really a fun book.

I'm also in the middle of Far to Go, one of the Booker longlisted books, about secular Jews in Czechoslovakia during WWII. It is interesting to read after The Glass Room, which was nominated a year or so ago, covering the same setting but entirely differently.

What is the Booker award anyway?

The Man Booker Prize is an annual contemporary fiction award, to writers from the British Commonwealth and Ireland. In other words, a great way to be exposed to non-American English-language literary fiction. :)

ive just started Stone of Farewell and if i manage to get through this before the 1st October then I hope to squeeze in Flowers for Algernon.

American Gods is getting read in October.

Train Man: The Novel by "Hitori Nakano" -- it's actually a collection of 2chan threads involving a guy seeking dating advice. Surprisingly, the book isn't a tragedy.

Just finished the The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. Happened to watch the old Disney adaptation of The Black Cauldron and thought - why did I never read this series? It was pretty good.

Sean wrote: "Train Man: The Novel by "Hitori Nakano" -- it's actually a collection of 2chan threads involving a guy seeking dating advice. Surprisingly, the book isn't a tragedy."

2chan?

Tamahome wrote: "2chan?"

The Japanese site 4chan is based upon.

Sean wrote: "Tamahome wrote: "2chan?"

The Japanese site 4chan is based upon."

Hmmm?

Could someone named Tamahome honestly not know 4chan? ;)

I only know what TWIT reports. I was hoping for more 2chan elucidation. :)

4chan is a site for discussing My Little Ponies: Friendship Is Magic. Oh, and organizing global revolution to overthrow the Church of $c!en+0109y.

2chan is a massively popular Japanese message board, originally for discussing anime, frequented by Japanese geeks. You can see examples of it in many recent anime, such as Durarara, Steins;Gate and Eden of the East.

I haven't updated in a while. I just finished the last two books in the Ian Cormac Series Polity Agent and Line War both were good if you like sci-fi and want something a little different than say David Weber/David Drake style.

I also read Geist which I enjoyed. I felt like it had a good unique world with interesting magic.

I finished Ready Player One this morning while waiting for my car to be fixed. My review sums up my feelings on it, but the long and short is that I enjoyed it.

I'm going to spend a little time trying to catch up on my podcast backlog, then I think I'm going to start listening to The Gunslinger to kick off the Dark Tower series. I'm also reading Flashforward on my Kindle. I think that now that I'm done with Ready Player One, I'll be more ready to dive into Flashforward. I hope so, anyway.

was just reprinted. Apparently, Vernor Vinge is the male version of Connie Willis, and always wins the Hugo.

Tamahome wrote: " was just reprinted. Apparently, Vernor Vinge is the male version of Connie Willis, and always wins the Hugo."

The difference is, Vinge deserves it.

I just finished Rule 34 (a real disappointment; see my review). I'm not sure what I'll read next. My wife and I have our second baby due in a week, so I'm not sure if I should start reading something. Maybe something steampunk. I'm looking forward to Reamde, but I don't know if I'm in the mood for another near future SF book right now.

So, I assume Rule 34 had nothing to do with the Internet or pronz?

I've been reading old Battletech novels. The Sword and Dagger by Ardath Mayhar is rare and I now know why. It wasn't very good. I read Decision Thunder Rift by William H Kieth Jr quickly, because it was so much better. Last month was Hugo nominee cramming month so I am relaxing with military scifi.

Just picked up The Omen Machine, the new Terry Goodkind novel.

I'm currently reading The Three Musketeers on Kindle, Leviathan Wakes in hardcover, and I'm listening to Something Wicked This Way Comes on audio. Woo!

I'm playing catch-up. Just started Changes and A Game of Thrones on Friday. When school starts again in October, I will be "forced" to read The Mists of Avalon. Gee, do I have to? lol

Cynthia wrote: "I'm playing catch-up. Just started Changes and A Game of Thrones on Friday. When school starts again in October, I will be "forced" to read [book:The Mists of Avalon|40..."
It is assigned in school?

I finally started Zero History and am besotted with it.

I started Jamrach's Menagerie, the last book long listed for the Booker that I'll get through before they choose the short list. It is interesting so far, a very poor kid in London living on the edge of the Thames is hired by Jamrach to work with his menagerie, and I'm pretty sure he's going to sea at any moment. Lots of descriptions of smells that almost rival Stephen King's ability to gross me out.

Smells like a winner!

Jenny wrote: " a very poor kid in London living on the edge of the Thames ..."
I'm headed to London in a couple weeks, staying on the edge of the Thames, and may subsequently become a very poor old bastard. I will endeavor to collect and share some smells..

Hmmm...

John wrote: "I finally started Zero History and am besotted with it."

I've had this sitting in my pile for a while, but then I realised I hadn't read his other later works Pattern Recognition, or Spook Country which I believe are a series of sorts. Am I better off reading these first?

Yeah they're a bit of a trilogy. Personally I liked Pattern Recognition best anyway.

Just completed Ben Elton's "Blast from the Past" which had some great topics. I'm not a huge fan of Ben Elton's fiction, but it usually entertains me enough for me to keep on buying them :)
Was particularly fun read having grown up during the 80s so knowing what living during the cold war was like, having that 'nuclear fear' that is missing from todays world. Is it wrong to think of that with fondness? What does that say about me!

I'm just about half way into Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson. I last read this book close to 30 years ago. I remember some of it but there was a lot I forgot. So it's like a new book I'm reading. I'm really enjoying it and look forward to finishing the rest of the books. Oh and my name is Penny. HI. :) Hope everyone has a fun and safe day.

Penny

I finished Flashforward today. You can read my full review but the long and short is that I wasn't all that impressed.

I started listening to the Dark Tower books yesterday, diving into The Gunslinger. I'm about an hour into the audiobook...it's hard to get into.

Next up on the Kindle is either going to be The Pale King, a Stand on Zanzibar re-read (I last read it in college, after reading and loving The Sheep Look Up), or Culinary School: Three Semesters of Life, Learning, and Loss of Blood. I'm not sure what I want to dive into...some of it depends on how long it'll be until the next S&L pick is selected.

I just started on the group read, Flashforward.

terpkristin wrote: "Next up on the Kindle is either going to be The Pale King, a Stand on Zanzibar re-read (I last read it in college, after reading and loving The Sheep Look Up), or Culinary School: Three Semesters of Life, Learning, and Loss of Blood. I'm not sure what I want to dive into...some of it depends on how long it'll be until the next S&L pick is selected..."
Hey I just got the original printing of Stand on Zanzibar from the library if you pick it! I'm holding off on The Pale King as my reward for reading Infinite Jest. Who knows when that will happen! I need to feel inspired first.

I've technically started reading Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker, but since discovering that each chapter has a code for you to crack I've spent more time trying to solve those than reading the book...

I used the holiday to read Ready Player One which was as good as the hype made it out to be. So many pop culture references :)

Jenny wrote: "Hey I just got the original printing of Stand on Zanzibar from the library if you pick it!"

I'll read it if you read it! :) Funnily, if memory serves, Stand on Zanzibar feels a bit disjointed, much like Infinite Jest did. Of course, once I got about 200 pages into Infinite Jest, I found it really hard to put down. Not sure what that says about me...

Jenny wrote: "Yeah they're a bit of a trilogy. Personally I liked Pattern Recognition best anyway."

Cheers. Guess I'll have to pick up/read the other two first.

Sean wrote: "Tamahome wrote: " was just reprinted. Apparently, Vernor Vinge is the male version of Connie Willis, and always wins the Hugo."

The difference is, Vinge deserves it."

Even Rainbow's End?

Tamahome wrote: "Even Rainbow's End?"

Yes. It's not his best book, but it's one of his most thought provoking, addressing issues of emerging technologies that barely existed at the time he was writing but are now major stories on TNT, BOL and TWIT.

Plus, it has Google's robot spiders.