What are you reading?

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

  1. trekkiedane

    trekkiedane Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2005
    Location:
    Getting there -but slowly.
    Mobius by Vincent Vale.

    I seem to be having tremendous trouble finding a decent book these days.

    Two gods, or if that's more your thing; God and The Devil, are fighting about who gets to devour the universe and (a) man is caught in the middle, fighting for the survival of the entirety of the widespread human race.

    Flat uninspiring and one-dimensional characters, but in this book it is just possible that it is on purpose; that the author is trying to make the best of not being able to write multidimensional characters to fill out his seventeen-dimensional universe (alas, it's not enough to make it a compelling read anyway). In a setting that seems never to know if it's going to be drama, (hard-ish) SciFi, magic-stick-waving fantasy, grand multicultural (multi galactic!) space-opera or mere new-age babbling.
    While most of the male characters are flat, all the female characters are paper cut-out clichés and all the many, many 'aliens' never have any of their culture explained.
    Furthermore things happen that the experienced reader will have great difficulty in accepting, most prominently; the Prime Minister of Earth join up with the leaders of the Martian and Mercurian civilizations and our protagonist, because she thinks he's cute(!!!), and run off to play away-team/marines elsewhere, while the Earth is being attacked by aliens -despite none of them having any experience in such endeavours!

    Spoken language (and there's a lot of it as most of the novel is dialogue) is styled pompous in the ridiculous ... I found it hard not to lol at a lot of it -which just made it more difficult to stay focused on the story.

    It's kinda funny -despite not trying to be- so I ...

    Would not recommend.
     
  2. Smellincoffee

    Smellincoffee Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    May 20, 2005
    Location:
    Heart of Dixie
    The Disappearing Spoon, a bit of pop science, and Ring of Steel, some WW1 history.
     
  3. Velocity

    Velocity Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 19, 2001
    Location:
    In the back of beyond
    Hail to the Chin, further adventures of a B movie star -- Bruce Campbell
    Fun stuff: filming Bubba Ho-Tep, filming in Bulgaria and filming The Man With the Screaming Brain; with lots of funny or just plain strange pictures.
     
  4. UncleRogi

    UncleRogi Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Jul 8, 2009
    Location:
    Hanover NH, catspaw of Atoning Unifex
    God Emperor of Dune, yet again!

    :techman:
     
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  5. May 20

    May 20 Consumer of cookies and milk Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jun 2, 2001
    Location:
    May 20's Pretty Nest. :)
    The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz.

    I'm waiting (rather inpatiently) for my son to finish Heir of Fire, the third book in the Throne of Glass series.
     
  6. USS Firefly

    USS Firefly Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Jan 7, 2013
    I am starting with ''dawn of the planet of the apes: firestorm".
    Are any of you rise of the planet of the apes novel readers?
    If so, what books do you recommend?
     
  7. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

    Joined:
    May 12, 2004
    Location:
    Lancaster, PA
    Read the New York Times Book Review cover to cover this morning. Does that count?
     
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  8. trekkiedane

    trekkiedane Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2005
    Location:
    Getting there -but slowly.
    Absolutely.

    Did you read about any interesting books we should know about?
     
  9. Owain Taggart

    Owain Taggart Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Nov 30, 2009
    Location:
    Northern Ontario, Canada
    Reading The Wright Brothers by David McCullough. It's a very engaging read and quite inspiring.
     
  10. Balok's Decoy

    Balok's Decoy Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Aug 13, 2016
    Location:
    Balok's Decoy in Baltimore, MD
    Advanced Birding by Kenn Kaufman.
     
  11. Tora Ziyal

    Tora Ziyal Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2010
    My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok.
     
  12. Lookingglassman

    Lookingglassman Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 22, 2006
    Location:
    America
    The Red Gambit Series by Colin Gee
     
  13. Velocity

    Velocity Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 19, 2001
    Location:
    In the back of beyond
    Serenity Firefly Class 03-K64 No Power in the 'Verse
     
  14. Miss Chicken

    Miss Chicken Little three legged cat with attitude Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2001
    Location:
    Howrah, Hobart, Tasmania
    I have just started listening to Artemis by Andy Weir, narrated by Rosario Dawson. I hope it is as good as The Martian.
     
  15. Kai "the spy"

    Kai "the spy" Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2011
    Location:
    Home
    Started reading "The Complete Chronicles of Conan", all of Robert E. Howard's Conan stories in one book. I'm in-between "The Phoenix on the Sword" and "The Scarlet Citadel".
     
  16. May 20

    May 20 Consumer of cookies and milk Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jun 2, 2001
    Location:
    May 20's Pretty Nest. :)
    Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

    I started it after finishing Sarah J. Maas' Heir of Fire because my son is still reading Queen of Shadows.
     
  17. Smellincoffee

    Smellincoffee Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    May 20, 2005
    Location:
    Heart of Dixie
    Embracing Defeat, a history of postwar Japan.
     
  18. JayTheTrekkie

    JayTheTrekkie Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Apr 25, 2005
    Location:
    Nova Scotia, Canada
    Starting to get back in to reading as I haven't been reading for like 3 months which isn't good lol The next book I just started is Clive Cussler NUMA Files: Nighthawk
     
  19. PlainSimpleJoel

    PlainSimpleJoel Fleet Admiral Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jan 18, 2002
    Location:
    Melbourne, Australia
    James S.A. Corey's Abaddon's Gate (which is book 3 of The Expanse series)
     
  20. The Lensman

    The Lensman Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2001
    Location:
    The Lensman
    The Dying Earth by Jack Vance