What SF/F Book Are you Reading? .. Redux - Page 8

Ensign_Redshirt · February 5 2012, 12:26 PM

The Shining by Stephen King

Klaus · February 20 2012, 05:39 AM

Finished Ender's Game, in Card's "Author's Definitive Edition" from 1991.... well I can see why it's so popular, it was quite the interesting read. A fascinating take on the problem of making someone into an ultimate soldier and whether its possible to retain one's humanity in the process. In the end, I think I liked the last chapter even more than the rest, when he finally got to understand the enemy. I'm not going to read any of the sequels at the moment, but I've been told to be careful of some of them lol.

Sidenote: one of my jobs is a retail one, and I've never gotten such a reaction to having a book visible next to my register as this one. It's a college town, and I got several people every day remarking that it was one of their favorite books. One volunteered that he'd only read half of it, as that was what it had taken to get him laid.

[That would have been the Darkover books in my undergrad days.

]

Back to the past again for my next one -- on to John Brunner's The Whole Man from 1964, a story of telepaths.

stj · February 20 2012, 01:12 PM

Jasper Fforde's One of Our Thursdays Is Missing

Why don't Fforde, Christopher Moore and Tom Holt get the attention and praise they deserve?

T'Starla · February 20 2012, 01:52 PM

This week, I have been mostly reading - Star Trek: The Disinherited by Robert Greenberger, Michael Jan Friedman and Peter David

Mistral · February 20 2012, 10:01 PM

nvek86 wrote:

Mistral wrote:

The book had mixed reviews at a site I visit-they said the same thing. Those 2 stories were singled out.

What site are you using for reviews? I visit "Worlds Without End" quite often, but they only cover books that won/were nominated for awards.

http://www.sfsite.com/

The main page content seems to change monthly.

nvek86 · February 20 2012, 10:18 PM

^Thanks for the link, seems like good and extensive site at first glance.

Klaus wrote:

Finished Ender's Game, in Card's "Author's Definitive Edition" from 1991.... well I can see why it's so popular, it was quite the interesting read. A fascinating take on the problem of making someone into an ultimate soldier and whether its possible to retain one's humanity in the process. In the end, I think I liked the last chapter even more than the rest, when he finally got to understand the enemy. I'm not going to read any of the sequels at the moment, but I've been told to be careful of some of them lol.

At least Speaker for the Dead (the first sequel) is also very good.

T'Starla · February 23 2012, 04:07 PM

The Smallest Dragonboy by Anne McCaffrey

scnj · February 23 2012, 04:13 PM

Just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Going onto Mogworld by Yahtzee Croshaw to cheer myself up.

Lowdarzz · February 23 2012, 04:21 PM

I'm reading Darkness Descending by Harry Turtledove.

It's the second of a six book series that retells the events of World War II in a fantasy setting. It's told from a third person omniscient perspective which seems to be the format that Turtledove prefers.

Out Of My Vulcan Mind · February 23 2012, 04:48 PM

After a spell of reading just non-fiction and non-SFF fiction, I've got back to reading SFF with A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs and The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A.E. van Vogt.

Mistral · February 24 2012, 04:05 AM

Lowdarzz wrote:

I'm reading Darkness Descending by Harry Turtledove.

It's the second of a six book series that retells the events of World War II in a fantasy setting. It's told from a third person omniscient perspective which seems to be the format that Turtledove prefers.

Read those. Beginning of the Terminal Turtledove Boredom Syndrome for me. I'm still in the process of expiring from it...

Klaus · February 24 2012, 04:13 AM

I like HT, but I only read his alternate history stuff...

stonester1 · February 24 2012, 11:51 AM

Almost finished with Song of Susanna, book six of the Dark Tower saga. In the home stretch...

Mistral · February 24 2012, 06:05 PM

Klaus wrote:

I like HT, but I only read his alternate history stuff...

I didn't read the Indian Wars or Atlantis series but I read all of the rest-the WWII and the Great War sagas. The first Nazi book, but not the last two. He does get repetitive and I discovered John Birmingham, who's far more exciting.

stj · February 24 2012, 11:54 PM

Turtledove has interesting ideas occasionally but is a horribly slip shod, painful writer. His best books are standalones like Ruled Britannia, The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump or Agent of Byzantium. His work as H.N. Turteltaub is better written but marred by an apparent tendency to really get off on moral primitivism. His series about ancient Greek merchants who embody the libertarian free market ideal are notably stupid even in the SF and fantasy fields, particularly for someone who went to a real university/college.

Tried to read China Mieville's Embassytown. The first time I ran across psychic powers/personality traits as the key to interstellar travel, in Cordwainer Smith, it was really exciting. Then when I ran across it in a Robert Sheckley short story, it was amusing. The third time, in Samuel R. Delany, it was getting rather old hat, and kind of hard to accept but there were other things going on, so I perservered. Then, when I came to it yet again, it was downright stale. It was vaguely insulting to be treated to such fatuous nonsense yet again. But this time the other thing going on was a first person narrator who regaled the readers with fine writing of the trendiest sort who announces to us that she isn't a literary person! You don't have to believe the narrator is reliable but you do have to be able to imagine that the narration is coming from an actual character. As it was, it seemed it was just China Mieville, who for some inexplicable reason occasionally pretended to be someone else who I could not believe would ever, ever, talk or write like that.

February 5 2012, 12:26 PM	#106
Ensign_Redshirt Fleet Captain	Re: What SF/F Book Are you Reading? .. Redux The Shining by Stephen King

February 20 2012, 05:39 AM	#107
Klaus Rear Admiral Location: Beach condo, Bay of Eldamar	Re: What SF/F Book Are you Reading? .. Redux Finished Ender's Game, in Card's "Author's Definitive Edition" from 1991.... well I can see why it's so popular, it was quite the interesting read. A fascinating take on the problem of making someone into an ultimate soldier and whether its possible to retain one's humanity in the process. In the end, I think I liked the last chapter even more than the rest, when he finally got to understand the enemy. I'm not going to read any of the sequels at the moment, but I've been told to be careful of some of them lol. Sidenote: one of my jobs is a retail one, and I've never gotten such a reaction to having a book visible next to my register as this one. It's a college town, and I got several people every day remarking that it was one of their favorite books. One volunteered that he'd only read half of it, as that was what it had taken to get him laid. [That would have been the Darkover books in my undergrad days. ] Back to the past again for my next one -- on to John Brunner's The Whole Man from 1964, a story of telepaths. __________________ "Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." - Mark Twain t-shirts! deviantArt

February 20 2012, 01:12 PM	#108
stj Rear Admiral Location: the real world	Re: What SF/F Book Are you Reading? .. Redux Jasper Fforde's One of Our Thursdays Is Missing Why don't Fforde, Christopher Moore and Tom Holt get the attention and praise they deserve? __________________ Morals are what you do to other people. Other people, what we call society, are essential to human happiness. Therefore, morals are the path to happiness. My morals, your happiness; your morals, my happiness: It's a fair trade.

February 20 2012, 01:52 PM	#109
T'Starla Lieutenant Commander Location: England	Re: What SF/F Book Are you Reading? .. Redux This week, I have been mostly reading - Star Trek: The Disinherited by Robert Greenberger, Michael Jan Friedman and Peter David __________________ After all, if you're not committing sin ... then you're not having fun ~ Black Hat [Priest (2011)]

February 23 2012, 04:07 PM	#112
T'Starla Lieutenant Commander Location: England	Re: What SF/F Book Are you Reading? .. Redux The Smallest Dragonboy by Anne McCaffrey __________________ After all, if you're not committing sin ... then you're not having fun ~ Black Hat [Priest (2011)]

STAR TREK

CSI

ABOUT US

February 23 2012, 04:13 PM	#113
scnj Captain	Re: What SF/F Book Are you Reading? .. Redux Just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Going onto Mogworld by Yahtzee Croshaw to cheer myself up.

February 23 2012, 04:21 PM	#114
Lowdarzz Captain	Re: What SF/F Book Are you Reading? .. Redux I'm reading Darkness Descending by Harry Turtledove. It's the second of a six book series that retells the events of World War II in a fantasy setting. It's told from a third person omniscient perspective which seems to be the format that Turtledove prefers.

February 23 2012, 04:48 PM	#115
Out Of My Vulcan Mind Vice Admiral Location: Wherever you go, there you are.	Re: What SF/F Book Are you Reading? .. Redux After a spell of reading just non-fiction and non-SFF fiction, I've got back to reading SFF with A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs and The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A.E. van Vogt. __________________ "I'll see you in another life, brother."

February 24 2012, 04:13 AM	#117
Klaus Rear Admiral Location: Beach condo, Bay of Eldamar	Re: What SF/F Book Are you Reading? .. Redux I like HT, but I only read his alternate history stuff... __________________ "Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." - Mark Twain t-shirts! deviantArt

February 24 2012, 11:51 AM	#118
stonester1 Rear Admiral	Re: What SF/F Book Are you Reading? .. Redux Almost finished with Song of Susanna, book six of the Dark Tower saga. In the home stretch... __________________ "New and stirring things are belittled because if they are not belittled, the humiliating question arises, 'Why then are you not taking part in them?' " - H. G. Wells

February 24 2012, 11:54 PM	#120
stj Rear Admiral Location: the real world	Re: What SF/F Book Are you Reading? .. Redux Turtledove has interesting ideas occasionally but is a horribly slip shod, painful writer. His best books are standalones like Ruled Britannia, The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump or Agent of Byzantium. His work as H.N. Turteltaub is better written but marred by an apparent tendency to really get off on moral primitivism. His series about ancient Greek merchants who embody the libertarian free market ideal are notably stupid even in the SF and fantasy fields, particularly for someone who went to a real university/college. Tried to read China Mieville's Embassytown. The first time I ran across psychic powers/personality traits as the key to interstellar travel, in Cordwainer Smith, it was really exciting. Then when I ran across it in a Robert Sheckley short story, it was amusing. The third time, in Samuel R. Delany, it was getting rather old hat, and kind of hard to accept but there were other things going on, so I perservered. Then, when I came to it yet again, it was downright stale. It was vaguely insulting to be treated to such fatuous nonsense yet again. But this time the other thing going on was a first person narrator who regaled the readers with fine writing of the trendiest sort who announces to us that she isn't a literary person! You don't have to believe the narrator is reliable but you do have to be able to imagine that the narration is coming from an actual character. As it was, it seemed it was just China Mieville, who for some inexplicable reason occasionally pretended to be someone else who I could not believe would ever, ever, talk or write like that. __________________ Morals are what you do to other people. Other people, what we call society, are essential to human happiness. Therefore, morals are the path to happiness. My morals, your happiness; your morals, my happiness: It's a fair trade.