What are you reading?

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by Snowlilly, Aug 21, 2012.

  1. Velocity

    Velocity Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 19, 2001
    Location:
    In the back of beyond
    Finding Magic by Stacia Kane
     
  2. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2003
    Location:
    RJDiogenes of Boston
    I've finished The Doctor and the Dinosaurs and I have mixed feelings. It was a good story with a good resolution, but it felt like a first draft. I know Resnick to be a good writer (though exclusively from his short fiction), so I'm not sure what went wrong. The dialogue was strange. To begin with, it was anachronistically modern, though that may have been a stylistic choice, but it was also repetitive. Just about every conversation between the characters seemed the same, and they constantly repeated themselves ("Well, I never thought about it that way, but I see your point."). There were a significant number of spelling and word errors, and a few little continuity glitches. On one page character A asks character B if he saw any Comanche on the way over and he answers no; on the next page character A asks character B the same question and he answers "one or two." It's like Resnick dictated the story into his hand-held device and the publisher simply transcribed and printed it without any further work being done.
     
  3. HaventGotALife

    HaventGotALife Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2011
    After a 3-month hiatus from reading (I don't know why I didn't pick up a book! I just didn't feel like it), I am back to a re-read of Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham and I just picked up Why I Read: The Serious Pleasure of Books by Wendy Lesser.
     
  4. Kai "the spy"

    Kai "the spy" Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2011
    Location:
    Home
    Started reading Raymond Chandler's The High Window. Not that far in, yet, but it already shapes up to be just as good as his first two Philip Marlowe novels.
     
  5. Velocity

    Velocity Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 19, 2001
    Location:
    In the back of beyond
    Chasing Magic by Stacia Kane
     
  6. Smellincoffee

    Smellincoffee Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    May 20, 2005
    Location:
    Heart of Dixie
    I just finished Anthem by Ayn Rand, which is a almost mythological story about a man who struggles to become conscious of himself and the power of his individuality despite growing up in a culture so suffocatingly communal and bureaucratic that even the word "I" has been obliterated. It gets a little preachy the last few pages, but man vs state stories are always winners for me; I enjoyed it even given my contempt for Rand's praise of selfishness.'

    I am now alternating between Power, Inc and Global Weirdness, the latter making the case for and outlining possible consequences of climate change.
     
  7. Miss Chicken

    Miss Chicken Little three legged cat with attitude Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2001
    Location:
    Howrah, Hobart, Tasmania
    I am listening to The Martian War: A Thrilling Eyewitness Account of the Recent Alien Invasion as Reported by Mr. H. G. Wells by Kevin J Anderson, narrated by Graeme Norton. A retelling of the War of the Worlds story with characters such as Percival Lowell, Dr Moreau, T.H. Huxley and The Invisible Man added.

     
  8. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2003
    Location:
    RJDiogenes of Boston
    ^^ Sounds good. I love that sort of crossover. Manly Wade Wellman wrote a pretty decent novel about Sherlock Holmes during the War of the Worlds (Professor Challenger was in there, too).
     
  9. Miss Chicken

    Miss Chicken Little three legged cat with attitude Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2001
    Location:
    Howrah, Hobart, Tasmania
    Yes, I have read and enjoyed that one.
     
  10. Miss Chicken

    Miss Chicken Little three legged cat with attitude Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2001
    Location:
    Howrah, Hobart, Tasmania
    Just finished Tyrannosaur Canyon by Douglas Preston, narrated by Scott Sowers. 4/5.

    Audible description

    I am now listening to Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett, narrated by Richard Aspel. Description

    Because I am a child at heart I think I will enjoy it.
     
  11. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2003
    Location:
    RJDiogenes of Boston
    I'm now reading Sabrina Zbasnik's third Dwarves In Space novel. Well, this one is more of a novella.
     
  12. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2001
    Location:
    Behind Enemy Lines
    Finally finished the brief history of the Roman Empire that I was reading, bit of a chore in the end but that was less down to the author than just the confused bloody nature of the Roman Empire towards the end of its life! :)

    Now reading The Fourth Protocol by Frederick Forsyth...
     
  13. Saga

    Saga Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2008
    Location:
    VA
    The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card
     
  14. C. Cole-Chakotay

    C. Cole-Chakotay Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Feb 5, 2004
    Location:
    With Cmdr. D. Chakotay
    I'm reading The Heavens Before (Genesis Trilogy) by Kacy Barnett-Gramckow and really enjoying it. It's about the times of Noah in the Bibie. I'll probably to break in and read the final book in the Last Dogs series by Christopher Holt and Allen Douglas.
     
  15. Miss Chicken

    Miss Chicken Little three legged cat with attitude Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2001
    Location:
    Howrah, Hobart, Tasmania
    I am listening to 14 by Peter Clines.

    I am only a few chapters in but it is good so far.
     
  16. Random_Spock

    Random_Spock Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Sep 4, 2009
    Location:
    Random_Spock
    Just got done with Curtains by Agatha Christie. So sad :(, yet VERY well done.
     
  17. Velocity

    Velocity Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 19, 2001
    Location:
    In the back of beyond
    Vertigo 42 by Martha Grimes
     
  18. Stephen!

    Stephen! Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2008
    Enough to keep me busy until at least the end of the year :)
    (I've already read "Raise the Dawn", which is why it's not in the pile)

    [​IMG]
     
  19. Australis

    Australis Writer - Australis Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2005
    Location:
    The Edge of Reality
    If you're into Roman history, you should check out the HArdcore History podcast, they have an amazing, multi-part series on the Fall of the Roman Republic (rise of Julius Caesar, etc), surprising in its scope and depth. it's not brief, but it is very interesting.

    As for me, rereading the Dream Park books, because I somehow missed a fourth one came out in 2011. These would make a fantastic film franchise, I don't know why someone hasn't done this.
     
  20. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2001
    Location:
    Behind Enemy Lines
    Thanks I might check that out :techman: