It's been a long, hot summer, curiously bereft of book posts. The Natives are restless.
Ok, ok, ok. My bad, people.
Truth be told, I haven't finished a book in the last two months. Back in June, I started reading a book about the experiences of a first-year med student learning about human anatomy via dissecting cadavers (no, it was not Mary Roach's Stiff, which is said to be a very enjoyable and funny read). I got about three chapters in and realized that I was bored. The author was determined to convince me that this was all such a wondrous, magical, spiritual journey, but I was bored. So I set it aside.
I then ran across Vernor Vinge's The Children of the Sky, his long-awaited sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep and its sort-of-prequel, A Deepness in the Sky, both of which were absolutely awesome. Perhaps best known for his origination of the concept of a technological singularity, Vinge is a smart, sophisticated writer, equally impressive in his handling of complex technological concepts, inventing alien cultures, and writing compelling characters.
This one is engaging, but (life and) the quadrennial festival of bad television coverage of sports has intervened, preventing me from getting this thing done. Children stumbles a bit in the front end, with a somewhat unbelievable naivety affecting several characters, but the world Vinge created in Fire is thoroughly engaging. I am looking forward to re-focusing and finishing this one.
What are you reading, damnit?
Marching through A Fire Upon the Deep. Yes, I ignored your advice, but heeded others. The tipping point was someone claiming the universe is better explained in Fire.
sure, since Deepness is wholly set in "Slow time", without any acknowledgment of the existence of the "higher" Zones of Thought. But I thought that his treatment of an interstellar trading culture in the absence of FTL travel was really cool. and Pham Nuwen is a great character.
I read Zeitoun last week, and while I have some reservations about the conclusion it was still an enlightening read.
I've heard that one is good, but I don't know. How does it compare to Eggers' other writing? The less similar it is to A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, the more likely I am to read it. Also, I've heard that the real-life Zeitoun is actually kind of a terrible person.
Hrm, I don't really have a frame of reference for either of your comments as I've never read eggers's other works, and I've never met mr. zeitoun.
I should also add that Dr. Chop thought it was one of the worst written books with decent content that she'd ever read. So, there's that.
The terrible person allegation comes from seeing this. And I would side with the good Dr. when it comes to Eggers' writing. I think he's a great publisher and is phenomenal at supporting other great writers, but I can't stand the way he writes.
absolute boo.
I read that last winter and found much of it to be engrossing, and I agree that the last quarter of the book flagged a bit, as well. Still, it offered some stunning imagery that stayed with me long after I put the book down.
My summer of reading got off to a great start, but in the last couple of weeks I've only picked here and there. Not sure why - I'm reading Richard Ford's Canada and thoroughly enjoying it. Recommended so far, which is just under two-thirds of the way through.
I know a fair number of Citizens are sci-fi buffs, and I've seen Joe Haldeman's The Forever War discussed here before. I read the unedited manuscript version on the flight home from Moscow for the first time and found the stuff he does with time, politics economics fairly interesting. The plot didn't hook me much, but the innovations were enough to carry the book. Is any of Haldeman's other stuff worth picking up?
I am a big fan of what I have read of Haldeman's stuff. Forever War is a timeless (ahem) classic. I also really liked the not-sequel, Forever Peace, as well as All My Sins Remembered and Buying Time. Haven't read the Worlds trilogy, the Marsbound trilogy, or several others.
Working on Take Time For Paradise, A. Bartlett Giamatti's philosophical essay on the nature of sport. It's really short, but I've still been reading it for a while, since life and summer and Olympics and stuff... It's pretty awesome though. I recommend it to anyone interested in thinking intelligently about sports. So, you know... everyone here.
Haven't read anything lately, but I did pick up two books at the local library's annual book fair (both for Runner daughter): a book about early Dr. Who, and A War of Gifts, a small Orson Scott Card book that fits within the Ender world.
continuing on the buying-things-for-daughters theme, I recently purchased from my local used book store a copy of decorated Davisville historian Alan Taylor's American Colonies: The Settling of North America.
I will steal it back from her at some point.
I'll continue with this theme. I picked up Once Upon A River from the used book bin at the library for my daughter (to read someday). The cover art and dust jacket description is what caught my eye, but I haven't read much of it yet.
Mary Roach's Stiff
i think it was mags that recommended packing for mars, which i read. it was good, though not great. i guess i was expecting a little more substance, and it also ended a little abruptly. however, i grabbed stiff at the same time. i'll get to it soonish.
Yeah, it was me recommending "Packing for Mars". I like it because it was written rather informally. The subject matter lends itself to dry, scientific writing, and I thought this was rather engaging. I do agree the end needed a little work.
The subject matter lends itself to dry, scientific writing, and I thought this was rather engaging.
it was a fun read for sure. i suppose i've consumed more information on the subject that the average reader, so i was looking for a little more.
regarding the end wrap-up, it sounded like a lot of papers i wrote in college. that's not a good thing.
I just recently finished reading Blueprints of the Afterlife by Ryan Boudinot. Really interesting book. A sort of blend of science fiction, satire, and post-apocalyptic weirdo dream world. It has quite possibly the stupidest first chapter I've ever read, starting almost like a challenge to the reader (you think you can get through 400 pages of this?). But once you get past that, and the story starts to open up, it's an extraordinarily entertaining read. Really fun. The only problem I had was that it has the potential to be a truly affecting story, but it never takes itself seriously enough to do so. Boudinot takes on some pretty challenging topics (existential angst, encroaching technology, ecological disaster), but, even when things go bad and people are dying, the frequently-goofy tone makes it feel like not much is ever at stake. I still would recommend it.
The other book I feel like reviewing is Complication by Isaac Adamson. I am a huge fan of Adamson's Billy Chaka books, which are very fun neo-noir mysteries starring a sardonic journalist in Tokyo. This is basically more of the same, only instead of a too-clever journalist it's just a regular guy, and instead of Tokyo it takes place in Prague. It's worth reading just for rich atmosphere of Prague, which is basically the main character of the book.
Well, I'll start with the ones I remember off the top of my head, and once I get home tonight I can go through the pile on my nightstand and add some more-
Starstrike by W. Michael Gear- interesting aliens-take-soldiers-for-interstellar war plot, add in Cold War tensions and you've got an interesting book. I found the parts about capitalism and communism more amusing than what it probably was intended to be when the book was written in 1990, but overall I enjoyed it.
The Briar King by Greg Keyes. I re-read this one for the third time, since I found the second (The Charnel Prince), third (The Blood Knight )and fourth (The Born Queen) books in my local used book store and I wanted to get all the characters and plotlines straight in my head before finishing the series. The first book reads a lot like A Game of Thrones, though less detailed and much shorter. I have high hopes for the next three.
A collection of short stories by Jack London. Very underrated writer, I read a lot of his stuff when I was in middle school, I'm getting a lot more of the nuance and historical feel of his writing now then I did twenty years ago. I think it really helped me with my writing on the short challenges for Spookymilk Survivor, too.
The Musashi Flex by Steve Perry. The last book in The Matador Series, but chronologically the first, it's a fun martial arts/sci-fi combination, probably my second-favorite one in the series.
After my long absence from reading anything other than bar preparation materials, I picked up The Roommates biography of Commodore Vanderbilt. I'm only through 1849, but so far it is engrossing and well written. I especially appreciate how he describes the politics and society of his time and how Vanderbilt's career intersects and benefits from (and eventually affects) the changing America in the 19th Century.
Note to SBG re: younger readers -- give this one a whirl 😉
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My baby is starting to read her own books now.
Has she discovered Poppleton yet?
also, Laura Numeroff and Richard Scarry.
I'm in the middle of Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson. And you think, "Amnesia? really?" and I say, "Well, OK. But it's a good book, and one that I can pick up after a week or so away and get right back into."
These are the books I finished in July:
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium, #3)
Larsson, Stieg
Burning Entrepreneur: How to Launch, Fund, and Set Your Startup on Fire
Feld, Brad
The Flinch
Smith, Julien
Beer Is Proof God Loves Us: Reaching for the Soul of Beer and Brewing
Bamforth, Charles
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
Lewis, Michael
This Book is about Travel
Hyde, Andrew *
The Girl Who Played With Fire (Millennium, #2)
Larsson, Stieg
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1)
Larsson, Stieg
The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World
Guillebeau, Chris
The $100 Startup
Guillebeau, Chris
All of them were at least good, although I'd skip Flinch. It was free though, so there is that.
Holy crap. Don't you have a job?
Oh, wait, you're a lawyer. Like being a burrocrat, but with money! 😉