So what are you reading? Part VI

[FatherRob]

currnetlly reading Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's The mote in Gods eye.
I am having problems understanding the hole gravity situation on that works. is it sopposed to be like babylon 5?

It's been about 5 years since I read Mote... a great book, but to be honest, I can't remember much about the gravity bit. I do not recall it as striking me in a B5 manner.

As for me, took a side trip Sunday night and decided to read Yesterday's Son. I thought I had Time for Yesterday in my collection, but it may have been one of the books that got water damage in our apartment fire a few years back. Either way, it isn't on my bookshelf, so I plan to hit a Half Price to read it ASAP. In the mean time, today anyway, I am back to Paths of Disharmony.

(For those wondering, I have a moderately unhealthy preoccupation with starships named Constellation, so when I read that the Constellation was mentioned in Time for Yesterday, I decided I needed to read the dulogy. I last recall trying to read Yesterday's Son about 15-20 years ago, when I was first reading Trek novels, and finding it intolerably boring. Last night I read almost straight through - about 2 1/2 hours of reading. I am thinking of doing a Retro Review over at TrekMovie if I can get my editor to buy in, for some alternate summer reading.)

Anyway, on the audio front, I am currently in the midst of Clarke's short story set. At the moment, The Lion of Comarre is issuing forth from my car stereo.

 

[Lonemagpie]

currnetlly reading Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's The mote in Gods eye.
I am having problems understanding the hole gravity situation on that works. is it sopposed to be like babylon 5?

just don't bother with the sequel...

 

[FatherRob]

currnetlly reading Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's The mote in Gods eye.
I am having problems understanding the hole gravity situation on that works. is it sopposed to be like babylon 5?

just don't bother with the sequel...

Where Mote was brilliant, the sequel was just OK. It does provide some interesting moments, but the Motie's behavior got to be just a little too comic for me.

On the gripping hand, you may find it perfectly enjoyable - but I think you'll be able to make the determination by the time you get to chapter 4 or 5, which was when I realized how things were going to feel moving forward and elected to just deal.

Rob+

 

[Sakrysta]

Finished A Time to Kill. Next up is A Time to Heal.

 

[Mr Silver]

I am currently reading The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart (George Cockcroft). Its pretty hard going as it challenges the norm in so many respects, but its a fascinating read.

 

[S. Gomez]

In an effort to start getting caught up on TrekLit (because if I don't start now I might never manage it) I'm going back to the beginning of Vanguard so I can read both Precipice and Declassified.

And to do this I must master the art of reading two books at once (one ST and one not). It's possible, but not always easy for me. Like most avid readers my eyes are bigger than my stomach.

 

[Cap'n Crunch]

I finished Almost Tomorrow from Vanguard: Declassified. I'm now reading Eureka: Road Less Traveled.

 

[FatherRob]

Just finished A.C. Crispin's Time for Yesterday, and am returning to Paths of Disharmony today. On the audio front, I am in the second volume of Clarke's Collected Stories, spanning 1950 and 1951. Seems to have been his most prolific published years. Yesterday listened to Guardian Angel which, later, would form the basis for the novel Childhood's End. Today, A Walk in the Dark encompassed my morning drive, and Holiday on the Moon will start when the car starts this afternoon.

Rob+

 

[label]

Finished: Obsessed (Ted Dekker) Review below.......
Starting : A Clash of Kings (Book 2 in Game of Thrones series)

Review for Obsessed
Like most of Dekker's books, this was a pretty intense, quick read that alternated between thought-provoking and emotionally gripping with plenty of twists along the way. The book alternates between an German Prison camp where Jewish women are tortured and killed 1944-45 and the aftermath of those events that affected both sides in 1973.

Like some of Dekker's earlier books this shares both his strengths - intense, action packed, unexpected twists, thrilling - as well as his weaknesses - inexplicable/unrealistic decisions from characters at time, way too fast/neat of an ending. I'd recommend it if you're a fan of Dekker's, but it's not quite on par with Thr3e, The Bride Collector or The Priest's Graveyard.

 

[OverlordSpock]

Just finished Robert J. Sawyer's FlashForward. Not the best book I've ever read, but not bad either. Really interesting in how the TV show diverted from the book and what they drew from the book. I think it was actually a good thing the show was "inspired" by the book and not "based" on the book. The ending with the second FlashFoward was REALLY trippy.

Now moving on to Cast No Shadow.

 

[S. Gomez]

Finished reading "The Astounding, the Amazing, and The Unknown" this morning. Much fun.

Is it a direct sequel to The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril? I suppose what I'm really asking is the dreaded "do I need to read that before this?" question. Because neither my library or local bookstore has a copy of the first one in stock at the moment. Just wondering which is okay to buy first.


By the way, I was also going to ask more generally...

Can anyone recommend one of the recent TOS novels? I'm thinking specifically about Troublesome Minds, Unspoken Truth, and even Cast No Shadow. If I could only read one, which one should it be?

 

[BrotherBenny]

Finished reading "The Astounding, the Amazing, and The Unknown" this morning. Much fun.

Is it a direct sequel to The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril? I suppose what I'm really asking is the dreaded "do I need to read that before this?" question. Because neither my library or local bookstore has a copy of the first one in stock at the moment. Just wondering which is okay to buy first.


By the way, I was also going to ask more generally...

Can anyone recommend one of the recent TOS novels? I'm thinking specifically about Troublesome Minds, Unspoken Truth, and even Cast No Shadow. If I could only read one, which one should it be?

Unspoken Truth, with Cast No Shadow a close second.

 

[popsicle]

Finally finished Rough Beast of the Empire, It only took me about 4 months... sooooo boring and just ugh in general. Must agree with everything people have said about it previously. Am now half way into Paths of Disharmony after just 2 days. This one is gonna go much faster!

 

[Greg Cox]

Finished reading "The Astounding, the Amazing, and The Unknown" this morning. Much fun.

Is it a direct sequel to The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril? I suppose what I'm really asking is the dreaded "do I need to read that before this?" question. Because neither my library or local bookstore has a copy of the first one in stock at the moment. Just wondering which is okay to buy first.

?

Technically, it's a sequel in that it takes place years later and features some of the same characters, but I don't think you need to read "Death Cloud" to understand the new one. It's a new story, with new protagonists, that just happens to feature a few of the same characters. It's not Part Two of a continuing saga; it's a new story, with its own beginnning, middle, and end.

To be more precise, the first book starred Walter Gibson and Lester Dent. Gibson and Dent both show up in this book, but only as supporting characters. The emphasis is on the next generation of pulp writers (Asimov, Heinlein, Hubbard, and DeCamp), who have their own enemies and mysteries to deal with.

Hope this makes sense!

 

[S. Gomez]

^Thanks, Greg. It sounds really interesting. I was a bit more anxious to read Death Cloud, but I'll consider picking up this one first if I can't get hold of that.

ETA: And thanks, BrotherBenny.

 

[j3067]

Finally finished Rough Beast of the Empire, It only took me about 4 months... sooooo boring and just ugh in general. Must agree with everything people have said about it previously. Am now half way into Paths of Disharmony after just 2 days. This one is gonna go much faster!

I guess you did not like being challenged by such a tough sell of a story.

RBoE was a horrible in my opinion as well. This story's centre did not hold, the Sisko did not heed the Character, Things fell apart, the plot could not hold. The Sisko lacks all conviction and Spock acts like an imbecile filled with passionate inanity (paraphrased from Yeats).

It is one of the worst books I have ever read. I would not normally finish a book that I found to be as thoroughly wretched as this one, but trek continuity compelled me to do so. 5 months later I find I have nothing but apathy for TrekLit Sisko.

If in the next book Sisko were to lead the Robinson on a mission to Veridian 3 to recover the Joe Piscopoe comic hologram to be his crew's guinan, cross into Star Wars to recruit Jar Jar to fill his Wesley Crusher slot, make a stop in the Land of the Lost to recruit some Sleestak shock troops to counter Reman threats, and then went back in time to recruit MacGruber to be his first officer I would still think more highly of that story than I do RoBE. Rough Beast is a feast I can't stand in the least (paraphrased from Dr. Seuss).

The Romulan stuff was dreadful too. The Tzenkethi stuff was the only piece of the story that I found remotely interesting and the payoff of that plot line came too late to salvage anything resembling enjoyment from this 'book'.

 

[Kertrats47]

Just finished Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know by Alexandra Horowitz. It was excellent!

Now I'm reading Middlesex: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides at the recommendation of my girlfriend. I love his writing style!

 

[Christopher]

Just finished Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know by Alexandra Horowitz. It was excellent!

Clever name for a book about dogs. Of course it's a Groucho Marx allusion: "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

 

[j3067]

Just finished Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know by Alexandra Horowitz. It was excellent!

Clever name for a book about dogs. Of course it's a Groucho Marx allusion: "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

Nice...I've been reading "A Member of the Family" by Ceaser Millan. Dog books are great.

Groucho is a font of great lines. "There ain't no such thing as a sanity clause" Is my all time Fav, even though he just set up the line.

 

[Smellincoffee]

I was reading Across the Universe, but then realized I had read it years before and still remembered most of the plot. I then found Synthesis while hunting for DTI, and since I watched the Bynar/Minuet episode just tonight, I decided to read the last novel in the Titan series (not counting Seize the Fire, which I read with the Typhon Pact novels.)