So what are you reading now? Part 2

[Lonemagpie]

Still struggling through The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L Sayers. People keep telling me to stick with it as it's a classic, but it's like having teeth pulled...

I had the same experience. I enjoyed Murder Must Advertise very much, and friends urged me to read The Nine Tailors, but I found all those arcane details about campanology agonizingly boring. I gave up and never looked back.

I'm 90 pages in but as it's a hardback anthology (along with Gideon's Day, Fuzz and The Big Sleep - which is fantastic) if I haven't finished it by tomorrow I'll be giving up cos I'm going on a trip for a couple of days and will want something that fits in a pocket.

Since I picked up Devil May Care for 50p in a charity shop the other day, that'll most likely be next...

 

[Cap'n Crunch]

Finished Star Trek: Troublesome Minds by Dave Galanter and started Star Trek: Titan: Over a Torrent Sea by Christopher L. Bennett. Next I'll be reading Star Trek: Voyager: Full Circle by Kirsten Beyer.

 

[Steve Roby]

Working my way through the Stargazer novels.

 

[Daddy Todd]

Working my way through the Stargazer novels.

I hope you post a review -- I've never gotten past the first handful of pages on any of them, so I'd appreciate a head's up if I'm missing something stellar.

 

[Daddy Todd]

Just finished re-reading Tim Powers's On Stranger Tides, which was purchased by Disney to be the the basis of the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It will be interesting to see if ANYTHING of the novel's plot makes it into the movie. I kind of doubt it.

Next up, reading Powers's just-published fantasy novella A Time to Cast Away Stones, which is apparently somehow related to his 1989 fantasy The Stress of Her Regard, one of my all-time favorite "vampire" novels.

After that, back to Trek with Reap the Whirlwind.

 

[ronny]

Dreadnought! - Diane Carey: Catching up on the older numbered TOS and TNG's. This has been the most notable. This was ok until I got to page 129 when Carey threw in a political speech.

In the prosperity of the late 20th century people kept handing over deciding powers to their governments, sometime even demanding government intervention. Can you imagine actually asking bureaucracies to take over?" Disbelief crossed Sarda's face. As a Vulcan, he couldn't even conceive of such a thing...

Wow, Carey was a teabagger from way back.

Every Hand Revealed - Gus Hansen: Probably the only poker book I'll ever read. Gus one a major tournament and while playing he recoded all his hands in a tape recorder this book covers every hand he played in the tournament. Interesting to hear how he plays and see his thought process during all phases of a tournament.

 

[Thrawn]

Working my way through the Stargazer novels.

I hope you post a review -- I've never gotten past the first handful of pages on any of them, so I'd appreciate a head's up if I'm missing something stellar.

His blog already has a review/some general thoughts on the first few entries.

 

[JD]

Dreadnought! - Diane Carey: Catching up on the older numbered TOS and TNG's. This has been the most notable. This was ok until I got to page 129 when Carey threw in a political speech.

In the prosperity of the late 20th century people kept handing over deciding powers to their governments, sometime even demanding government intervention. Can you imagine actually asking bureaucracies to take over?" Disbelief crossed Sarda's face. As a Vulcan, he couldn't even conceive of such a thing...

Wow, Carey was a teabagger from way back.

Wow, just... wow. Are all of her books like that?

 

[Sci]

Dreadnought! - Diane Carey: Catching up on the older numbered TOS and TNG's. This has been the most notable. This was ok until I got to page 129 when Carey threw in a political speech.

In the prosperity of the late 20th century people kept handing over deciding powers to their governments, sometime even demanding government intervention. Can you imagine actually asking bureaucracies to take over?" Disbelief crossed Sarda's face. As a Vulcan, he couldn't even conceive of such a thing...

Wow, Carey was a teabagger from way back.

Wow, just... wow. Are all of her books like that?

As I understand it, Diane Carey is not a "teabagger" -- that is, she's not a right-wing extremist. Rather, she is a capital-L Libertarian.

Which is a political philosophy I don't really agree with, either -- it's always seemed to me that Libertarians are more concerned with property than liberty, and really ought to be called Propertarians -- but whatever. Either way, yeah, she, like most Libertarians, seems to have had a long-standing objection to the concept of socialized industries.

 

[Cuhl]

As I understand it, Diane Carey is not a "teabagger" -- that is, she's not a right-wing extremist. Rather, she is a capital-L Libertarian.

I don't know. If so, she certainly breaks with the Libertarian Party when it comes to the Iraq War. The Libertarian Party's web page says, "The Libertarian Party has been opposed to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq from the beginning."

But here's a comment from Diane Carey from a 2006 interview: "I absolutely support the Iraq War. We must stabilize that region of the Earth, or we will pay for our complacence in coming generations. Pacifists can only exist if non-pacifists are around to defend them."

(http://www.alienexperience.com/inde...na-war-part-two&catid=36:interviews&Itemid=50)

 

[Sci]

As I understand it, Diane Carey is not a "teabagger" -- that is, she's not a right-wing extremist. Rather, she is a capital-L Libertarian.

I don't know. If so, she certainly breaks with the Libertarian Party when it comes to the Iraq War. The Libertarian Party's web page says, "The Libertarian Party has been opposed to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq from the beginning."

But here's a comment from Diane Carey from a 2006 interview: "I absolutely support the Iraq War. We must stabilize that region of the Earth, or we will pay for our complacence in coming generations. Pacifists can only exist if non-pacifists are around to defend them."

(http://www.alienexperience.com/inde...na-war-part-two&catid=36:interviews&Itemid=50)

*shrugs* I'm repeating what I think I recall from an interview in Voyages of the Imagination, but that's a good point there. I might be totally misremembering something.

 

[Steve Roby]

Carey used to present herself as a sort of Libertarian (I hate the government! I love the military! I am not experiencing cognitive dissonance!!), but by the time she ran for the Michigan state legislature, she was following the standard religious right Republican party line.

As for Stargazer, the bottom line from my blog post: I'm liking the books well enough. They aren't bad, though they're sometimes a bit simplistic. The prose is unobjectionable. It's just that they feel like the product of another era -- the Ordoverian era, perhaps. I probably would have enjoyed them just fine fifteen years or so ago. After the DS9 relaunch, Vanguard, Titan, Destiny, and so on, they just don't excite me.

 

[Paris]

^I got all 6 Stargazer books in an onlilne auction, and so far i've made it through the first three. I agree with Steve...their just okay. Not nearly as exciting as the stuff coming out today, but a decent read. Currently I'm reading Martin & Mangels Forged in Fire and i'm really enjoying it .

 

[Daddy Todd]

As for Stargazer, the bottom line from my blog post: I'm liking the books well enough. They aren't bad, though they're sometimes a bit simplistic. The prose is unobjectionable. It's just that they feel like the product of another era -- the Ordoverian era, perhaps. I probably would have enjoyed them just fine fifteen years or so ago. After the DS9 relaunch, Vanguard, Titan, Destiny, and so on, they just don't excite me.

Thanks, Steve.

It sounds like SGZ can stay in the backlog to be read when I'm caught up on stuff I really really want to read. That should happen sometime about 2030, after I retire...

 

[Trekker09]

Does anyone like reading Trek biographies or critical analyses, got any titles to recommend? I love reading this type of book, some of the most memorable --

Shatner's first 2 Memories books, better than his more recent ones on gadgets etc

Nimoy's I am Spock, and I Am Not Spock - less egostitical than Shatner's

Takei's To the Stars - OK, includes his coming out

Warped Factors by Walter Koenig- hilarious, the guy could be a stand up comedian. Worth it for the first chapter alone.

From Sawdust to Stardust: DeForest Kelley - decent, would rather have read his own words

Nichelle Nichols' Beyond Uhura - great bio, had no idea she'd done so much with her life.

Grace Lee Whitney's Longest Trek - sad, disturbing, especially the abuse she took from the TV personell

Gene Roddenberry: The Last Conversation with Yvonne Fern - loved some of the interviews. She idolized him almost as much as Majel

Inside Trek: my secret life with Gene Roddenberry, by Susan Sackett - I was shocked. If everything she wrote is accurate, the guy was truly a Jekyll and Hyde

The Quotable Star Trek by Jill Sherwin - a fun collection

Religions of Star Trek (Kramer, Cassidy, Schwartz) - some nice analyses but doesn't cover enough of the series/ films.

Have tried a couple others--
Deep Space and Sacred Time;
Star Trek and Sacred Ground - both a bit too dry or something.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Inside Trek: my secret life with Gene Roddenberry, by Susan Sackett - I was shocked. If everything she wrote is accurate, the guy was truly a Jekyll and Hyde

Isn't everybody?

 

[William Leisner]

Inside Trek: my secret life with Gene Roddenberry, by Susan Sackett - I was shocked. If everything she wrote is accurate, the guy was truly a Jekyll and Hyde

Isn't everybody?

I'm not.

Okay, yes I am.

No, really, I'm not.

 

[Drizzt]

I am currently reading, or just got done reading a BUNCH of stuff.
First, I just read "Law of Nines" by Terry Goodkind, which is an amazing read.
Second, I just read, "THe Never-Ending Sacrifice", which I thought gave an enormously valuable insight into Cardassian culture.

Currently, I have gotten on a MAJOR graphic novel kick.
I have read or am reading:
Star Trek Archives Volume 2: Best of the Borg
Star Trek Archives Volume 6; Best of Alternate Universes
Star Trek : Nero Issues 1 and 2
Star Trek Alien Spotlight : Q
Star Trek Omnibus I
Star Trek Omnibus II

Up until the last month I was completely ignorant of the world of Star Trek comics and graphic novels. And, if you have never picked one up, you owe it to yourself (if you enjoy "Trek" literature), to do so immediately! There is a whole other world of good writing in these volumes.

Cheers!

 

[ThereR4Lites]

Ive just finished reading My Enemy My Ally by Diane Duane for the 3rd time. If you love TOS and you want amazing character development and a leap into the fantastic world of aliens that just wasnt permitted until the animated series, you must read Diane Duane. Did I mention... Diane Duane.

Also just finished Full Circle. Cant wait for more Voyager but not sure of what I think about the ending... we will wait and see what the writers do I guess.

 

[KimMH]

Found The Romulan Way @ Goodwill for 70c. so excited- lost track of other copy - get to reread it!