Whatcha readin'?

Just finished Bury my heart at wounded knee. Listening to Podcasts more than reading currently.

Really like the return fire podcast. Quite funny.

Paxen wrote:Meh, Oh John Ringo No really only applies to the Mike Harmon books. His first series, starting with A Hymn Before Battle is decent popcorn milSF.

I find Ringo spends far too much timne on exposition and political talking heads. I don't really care to wade through 15 pages of nigh-ranting libertarianism between actual plot advancement... if it was not so desperately earnest in trying to convince me my views were wrong, I'd be more tolerant. Like I said, I'd like to read something with fewer straw men and fewer politcal screeds. Weber or Brin for example. Or, for that matter, Stross, who I really do like. Or some Bujold - she's hoodwinked me in to reading SF RomComs a few times now.

Turtletaub's The Gryphon's Skull is currently by the bed. Classical Greece seafaring by someone who actually studied Old World Systems - so it doesn't ring false like some historical fiction does.

Alright, summer is fast approaching and I'm going to need to find myself some recreational reading material.

Debating whether to dive into Discworld, the Dark Tower series, or Dune.

Thoughts?

Njall wrote:

Paxen wrote:Meh, Oh John Ringo No really only applies to the Mike Harmon books. His first series, starting with A Hymn Before Battle is decent popcorn milSF.

I find Ringo spends far too much timne on exposition and political talking heads. I don't really care to wade through 15 pages of nigh-ranting libertarianism between actual plot advancement... if it was not so desperately earnest in trying to convince me my views were wrong, I'd be more tolerant.

I did not notice much of that at all in the intial Posleen books, but I might just have missed it (I'm leftwing myself, fyi, so I'm more likely to notice rightwing prosetylism). It's still not Oh John Ringo No as I understand it - that's more the scetchy and worrying parts of the Harmon books, like how Harmon really wants to rape everybody and nobly doesn't, or how he collects whores whereever he goes and they're all happy with it.

Like I said, I'd like to read something with fewer straw men and fewer politcal screeds. Weber or Brin for example.

Weber's pretty political himself. Manticore vs Haven is a battle of the plucky little free market capitalist state that could vs the big, bad, corrupt socalist conquistadors. And he's a wee bit too enamoured of monarchy for my tastes.

Re-read The Abhorsen Trilogy after having it on the bookshelf dusty for probably 10 years.

Also read The Magician Series by R. Feist recently.

Would love some recommendations for Fantasy genre reading.

Shyrtandros wrote:Would love some recommendations for Fantasy genre reading.

Joe Abercrombie and Brandon Sanderson are the best of the "new" writers IMHO (new as in started writing after 2000). Abercrombie writes dark, sometimes humorous stuff (but with an emphasis on "dark"), while Sanderson writes more straight-up stuff. For Abercrombie, I'd either start with the Blade Itself, even though later books in the series are even better, or Half A King, his "YA" series. The latter book is more straight-forward action, while the first has a more convoluted plot and also some sex scenes (including one memorable one that's supremely awkward and funny). For Sanderson, I'd either start with Mistborn (if you like action) or the Way of Kings (if you like the Wheel of Time - don't worry, Way of Kings is better than WoT).

Other recommendations: A Promise of Blood, Brian McCellan (gunpowder fantasy in a Napoleonic inspired setting), Name of the Wind (slow, Harry Potterish for grown ups, but interesting), The Painted Man (or the Warded Man, same book), Peter Brett (demons come out and eat people every night, and somebody starts to fight back), Steven Erikssons Malazan books - tbh I'm not sure where to start this, might as well start at the beginning. A setting with a detailed history spanning hundreds of thousands of years, but action-packed, if confusing, at times.

I thought we used to have a thread with a lot of recommendations on fantasy books. I know I grabbed Ender's Game and one of The Black Company sets based on comments from that thread. I wonder if it got removed as part of our site move/upgrade stuff? The Black Company is an interesting change of pace as it is written from the perspective of a group of mercenaries who are generally working for the "Empire" side of things and trying to survive the empire at the same time.

Unfortunately for the last year or so I've been almost exclusively reading technical books related to work, though not particularly entertaining, the nerd in me does find them interesting. Before that though, I had been reading some non-fiction. Unbreakable and Boys in the Boat were both pretty good and they even cross paths a little bit with each other.

I finished reading The Three-Body Problem yesterday. Today I started listening to the next Discworld novel, Interesting Times.

On the fantasy side of the house... I like Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series...

Wikipedia wrote:The inspiration for the series came from a bet Jim was challenged to by a member of the Del Rey Online Writer’s Workshop. The challenger bet that Jim could not write a good story based on a lame idea, and Jim countered that he could do it using two lame ideas of the challenger’s choosing. The “lame” ideas given were “Lost Roman Legion", and “Pokémon”.

Of course, he also wrote The Dresden Files and has announced a steampunk series called The Cinder Spires that I'm quite excited about...

Jim Butcher wrote:It’s kinda League of Extraordinary Gentlemen meets Sherlock meets Hornblower. There are goggles and airships and steam power and bizarre crystal technology and talking cats, who are horrid little bullies.

And if you really like puns, humor and fantasy rolled into one... the Xanth series by Piers Anthony is always a good one to look at. There are 30-something books, but they don't really require you to read them in order. Each book follows a handful of characters who are then rotated out in the next book (usually becoming minor/background characters.)

I'm beginning to think Nigel Planer's accents for the Counterweight Continent characters in the Interesting Times audiobook are a little bit racist...


I've just started A Darker Shade of Magic by V E Schwab. Fantasy about multiple Londons, one of them our London around the Regency era, the others different places with magic.

Reading, "Who Pooped on My Head?" to the boys. Its a gripping tale of a mole who wakes with a big doodle on his head and he must go and find out who did it.

German children's books are from another planet.

Njall wrote:Reading, "Who Pooped on My Head?" to the boys. Its a gripping tale of a mole who wakes with a big doodle on his head and he must go and find out who did it.

German children's books are from another planet.

And suddenly the stereotype of "Germans with a poop fetish" makes perfect sense.

Meanwhile I'm reading a white paper on NoSQL at work. But I have no experience in SQL so I may as well be reading NoDamnClue.

At home I'm reading Good Night Moon and a few other books to my daughter (1 year old) again and again and again. I am going to try to rewrite The Very Hungry Caterpillar into The Very Inexperienced Caterpie.

Gotten about a third into "Kafka on the Shore" by Murakami Haruki now. It's definitely an interesting book. Perhaps somewhat slow to start, but picks up the pace a little bit in. I'm not sure whether I find the funny/interesting parts funny and interesting because they're universally funny and interesting though, or if my somewhat recently acquired understanding of Japanese culture is allowing me to enjoy this book more than I otherwise would have. It is admittedly a slightly strange book.

Reading The Girl in the Road by Monica Byrne, and about to start the next Discworld audiobook, Maskerade.

Mahabharata

Re-reading "Girl Genius" from the beginning.

Njall wrote:Re-reading "Girl Genius" from the beginning.

The webcomic? Loved that one, kept up with it until I left for Japan. Don't remember where I left off.

Era wrote:

Njall wrote:Re-reading "Girl Genius" from the beginning.

The webcomic? Loved that one, kept up with it until I left for Japan. Don't remember where I left off.

I bought it back when it was paper. I still have the eight or so black and white issues they did back in the 90s. Along with my Buck Godot: Zapgun for Hire graphic novels.

Nice. I noticed they were selling some paper issues (maybe even a hardback collection if I recall correctly), but getting things shipped to Norway has historically been a hassle. An expensive hassle. Haven't actually thought about how that might've changed now that I've kinda moved to Japan. Maybe I can actually order stuff from the US more easily here? Hm.

EDIT: For those who are into webcomics, I warmly recommend Paranatural by Zack Morrison.

http://www.paranatural.net/index.php?id=1

It's mostly sketched in the beginning, but the artstyle progresses a lot as you go.
Some people have told me it's a little slow to get into? I don't know, I didn't feel it, but each to their own.

Era wrote:Nice. I noticed they were selling some paper issues (maybe even a hardback collection if I recall correctly), but getting things shipped to Norway has historically been a hassle. An expensive hassle. Haven't actually thought about how that might've changed now that I've kinda moved to Japan. Maybe I can actually order stuff from the US more easily here? Hm.

Outland in Oslo have most of the albums (around 200kr each IIRC), but they're lagging a bit behind on the later issues.

Ah, never thought to look for them there. Might drop by next week to have a look, need to go into the city for some camera stuff before I go back to Japan anyway. Hardback though? I've never been all that into paper comics, and I prefer things that stack nicely in my Neat Shelf of OCD & Books.

Pfife wrote:Meanwhile I'm reading a white paper on NoSQL at work. But I have no experience in SQL so I may as well be reading NoDamnClue.

which paper?

Era wrote:Hardback though?

Maybe? I've seen some hardbacks there, but I don't know if they've got it all in HC. They may.

On audiobook I'm now listening to Terry Pratchett's Feet of Clay, and I'm also reading Kelly Link's story collection Get In Trouble.

Finished reading Kafka on the Shore by Murakami. Definitely an interesting book. Slow in the beginning, but picks up the pace after a while. Felt I got really invested in the characters, especially old Nakata, if anyone else has read it.

Next up is a book I've been meaning to read for the longest time: Green Hills of Africa by Hemingway!