So what are you reading now? (Part 3)

[Thrawn]

^ I've tried to read that book 3 times, and failed to get into it every time. All my friends like it, my whole family likes it, it seems like the kind of thing I should love, but I just can't make myself like it. This is also true of anything by Asimov or Heinlein.

just curious what heinlein was it?
his stuff really depends on which period.
some of it i love and some if just gag.

finished vinge's rainbow end, country of the blind by flynn( very disappointing though i have to remember it is a far earlier book then eifeiheim) connie willis black out and naomi novik's her majesty's dragon.
now reading julian comstock by robert charles wilson and vanguard: open secrets.

Stranger In A Strange Land was the one I got the farthest into, I think. I can't remember the other titles; it's been a few years.

And oh man, Julian Comstock is freaking incredible. The final section of that novel goes in a totally unexpected direction, and makes a real artistic statement. It's an absolute favorite.

 

[donners22]

Reading Dyson Sphere, one of the TNG numbered novels. My eyes are glazing over a bit at some of the science, but it's moderately entertaining so far.

 

[pookha]

^ I've tried to read that book 3 times, and failed to get into it every time. All my friends like it, my whole family likes it, it seems like the kind of thing I should love, but I just can't make myself like it. This is also true of anything by Asimov or Heinlein.

just curious what heinlein was it?
his stuff really depends on which period.
some of it i love and some if just gag.

finished vinge's rainbow end, country of the blind by flynn( very disappointing though i have to remember it is a far earlier book then eifeiheim) connie willis black out and naomi novik's her majesty's dragon.
now reading julian comstock by robert charles wilson and vanguard: open secrets.

Stranger In A Strange Land was the one I got the farthest into, I think. I can't remember the other titles; it's been a few years.

And oh man, Julian Comstock is freaking incredible. The final section of that novel goes in a totally unexpected direction, and makes a real artistic statement. It's an absolute favorite.

pull up a list of heinleins book and try reading some of the earlier stuff.
some of his late 60's and early 70's stuff is hit and miss with some people.

 

[seigezunt]

I just finished the first SCE story, Belly of the Beast, and I enjoyed it quite a bit, though it kind of ends abruptly. Starting the second one. Reading concurrent with Pandora Principle.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Reading Dyson Sphere, one of the TNG numbered novels. My eyes are glazing over a bit at some of the science, but it's moderately entertaining so far.

IIRC from Voyages of Imagination, Dyson Sphere was cut down by about a quarter and had much of it's 'real science' replaced with generic Star Trek technobabble (much to the annoyance of the real-life scientist author) before release, despite the manuscript having been given final approval.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I read Larry Niven's Protector, which was alright. I always believed that being smarter, you'd have more and more choices open to you. Protector postulates that given the intelligence to weigh up the outcome of every possible course of action, and think several steps ahead (all the way to the end of the chain) you'd really have none of the 'choice' that we percieve. You'd have the choice that eventually leads to the best outcome and that's it. Of course, without an all-overriding genetic imperitive to safeguard humanity things might not be so black and white. But who would choose a less-than-best outcome for whatever they were planning?

I'm now reading Peter David's Strike Zone. I'd like to see a picture of a Kreel. They sound like claymation villains from Wallace and Gromit.

 

[Greg Cox]

Read the rest of TIMESHARES, a time-travel anthology I contributed to awhile back. I particularly liked "But I'm Not the Only One" by Chris Pierson, a rather poignant and clever story about going back in time to save John Lennon from assassination. Michael Stackpole's story about a trip back to the Crucifixion was also a highlight.

 

[Steve Roby]

Currently reading Adventures in Kate Bush and Theory by Deborah M. Withers. Withers says she called the book that because she wanted to write a book about Kate Bush using various types of critical theory but she wanted it to be fun, too. And so far, so good. Unlike some books of pop culture criticism I can think of (like Enterprise Zones, a collection of essays on Star Trek) she pays a lot of attention to the actual subject instead of just stringing together a lot of quotes from Cixous, Deleuze, Guattari, etc. Her interpretations are guided as much by close reading of Kate Bush's lyrics and listening to the performances (and watching videos) as by theory, and I'm actually learning interesting new things about a musician I've been listening to for over thirty years. (Plus, as Withers points out, pretty much everything else about Kate Bush has been written by middle-aged straight white guys, so a book by a young lesbian is going to offer some new perspectives.)

 

[mbruno]

I'm not sure exactly what conversation you're referring to in Destiny because I haven't read it yet, but Jellico and Seven absolutely cannot stand each other. He doesn't trust her at all and she recognizes he is a giant asshole, like he was in Chain of Command.

I agree about Jellico being an asshole.

 

[mbruno]

I'm reading Sin City: That Yellow Bastard...and Obsidian Alliance.

I couldn't finish Uhura's Story. It was moving a bit slow; interestingly, I didn't find it a bad book. I...just...moved...too...slow.

It did remind of a lovable cat I used to know; I named him 'Kat'...

I think you mean Uhura's Song.

 

[Thrawn]

Well, Sorrows Of Empire was *awesome*, as expected, and SCE: Breakdowns was pretty solid too. I'm usually alternating books and SCE stories, but I'm too interested in the new paradigm to stop, so I think I'll hit SCE: Aftermath next.

Then, I bought David Mack's Wolverine novel, because Sorrows Of Empire was so awesome, and I'll read that next. All I know about Wolverine I know from the first X-Men movie, many many years ago. So this should be entertaining...

 

[seigezunt]

I'm reading Sin City: That Yellow Bastard...and Obsidian Alliance.

I couldn't finish Uhura's Story. It was moving a bit slow; interestingly, I didn't find it a bad book. I...just...moved...too...slow.

It did remind of a lovable cat I used to know; I named him 'Kat'...

I think you mean Uhura's Song.

Wasn't Uhura's Story an issue of the DC comic?

 

[pookha]

scalzi's the last colony.
just finished vanguard open secrets.

 

[Christopher]

Wasn't Uhura's Story an issue of the DC comic?

Yep, issue 30 of their first series, written by Paul Kupperberg and illustrated by Carmine Infantino. Unfortunately, licensed material and actor likenesses were not one of Infantino's strengths, so the art was problematical. The story had a movie-era frame around a TOS-era flashback, and there are mixups like TOS-era shuttlecraft and uniforms showing up in the movie-era portions.

 

[JD]

Well, Sorrows Of Empire was *awesome*, as expected, and SCE: Breakdowns was pretty solid too. I'm usually alternating books and SCE stories, but I'm too interested in the new paradigm to stop, so I think I'll hit SCE: Aftermath next.

Then, I bought David Mack's Wolverine novel, because Sorrows Of Empire was so awesome, and I'll read that next. All I know about Wolverine I know from the first X-Men movie, many many years ago. So this should be entertaining...

I'm not entirely sure, but I think that Road of Bones might actually give you a peek at some of the characters who could be popping up in the next Wolverine movie.

 

[Starbreaker]

I'm reading Sin City: That Yellow Bastard...and Obsidian Alliance.

I couldn't finish Uhura's Story. It was moving a bit slow; interestingly, I didn't find it a bad book. I...just...moved...too...slow.

It did remind of a lovable cat I used to know; I named him 'Kat'...

I think you mean Uhura's Song.

Completely unnecessary rolleyes.

 

[Thrawn]

Just finished SCE: Aftermath.

I like this Tev character

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I'm not entirely sure, but I think that Road of Bones might actually give you a peek at some of the characters who could be popping up in the next Wolverine movie.

I don't know about that (the next movie is supposed to riff on the Claremont/Miller "Wolverine in Japan" mini-series, which I've never read), but I will say that Road of Bones requires little in the way of X-Men or Wolverine knowledge; I've not been a reader of Marvel's mutants in fifteen years, and even then I never really "got" the X-Men, but I enjoyed Road of Bones a whole lot. It's an personal, intense, and global adventure.

 

[JD]

I don't know know Wolverine that well. I just thought that I remembered reading that some of the characters were from the same arc that the movie was inspired by.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

They could be. I don't know Wolverine that well, either. Okay, okay, I read Barry Windsor-Smith's "Weapon X" storyline twenty years ago, and the X-books until about fifteen years ago, but outside of that, I'm pretty clueless where Wolverine is concerned.