Books completed (and general book talk)

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Flabyo
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Re: Books completed (2018)

Post by Flabyo »

The Witcher books do eventually turn into ‘the adventures of Ciri, also with Geralt’, but that doesn’t make them any less good :)

Currently reading Garry Kasparov’s book about his matches with Deep Blue and his take on A.I. research. It’s pretty good, if you happen to share his (and my) view that a lot of the hysterics about A.I. research dooming humanity is daft.

I got about halfway through Rotherweird, which should be right up my alley, but I can’t seem to gel with it.
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duskvstweak
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Re: Books completed (2018)

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Flabyo wrote: November 28th, 2018, 10:20 am The Witcher books do eventually turn into ‘the adventures of Ciri, also with Geralt’, but that doesn’t make them any less good :)
Yeah, I just finished The Tower of Swallows and most of the book is Ciri telling her story. I guess Sapkowski must have found her more interesting to write, but I do miss the "Geralt goes on a monster hunt" stories from the earlier collections.
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Re: Books completed (2018)

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I just reread Neuromancer by William Gibson. When I first read it seven years ago, I did not like it and was rather confused. This time around, I realized, I had tried to skim it when I was younger and that is not the way to go. You really have pay attention to every single sentence or you'll get lost in the world building and action.
The point is, I greatly enjoyed it this time around and now want to read the other books in that series, plus pick up Snow Crash for the first time.
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Chopper
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Re: Books completed

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You will then have to change all your user names to SnowCrashxxxx like everyone else who's read that book. :)

Edit: I am reading the latest book in the Expanse sci fi series, which came out a month or two ago. It is good; he is still doing that trick of cutting from several exciting chapters in a row, to one chapter about the most boring person in the book (who will eventually grow into a fascinating character in their own right).

I'm enjoying it, but this is probably the end of the line for me, as I can't really engage with these series-in-progress as they are being written (though the next one is allegedly due in 2020, which isn't too bad).
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Re: Books completed

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Chopper wrote: June 5th, 2019, 8:03 am You will then have to change all your user names to SnowCrashxxxx like everyone else who's read that book. :)

Edit: I am reading the latest book in the Expanse sci fi series, which came out a month or two ago. It is good; he is still doing that trick of cutting from several exciting chapters in a row, to one chapter about the most boring person in the book (who will eventually grow into a fascinating character in their own right).

I'm enjoying it, but this is probably the end of the line for me, as I can't really engage with these series-in-progress as they are being written (though the next one is allegedly due in 2020, which isn't too bad).
I think I left after the third book. Loved the first, but the second and third didn't really do much for me.
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Re: Books completed

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I read the Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James. It's a YA science fiction book and I really liked it. No spoilers, but it becomes a real page turner as it goes on.

My co-host and I interviewed the author for our book podcast. He was freaking out because he got the time wrong, with her being in the UK and all. I think most of her books are UK-only at the moment, aside from this one?
https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/epis ... uren-james
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Re: Books completed

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I've been reading The Dirt, the Motley Crue autobiography. Now, I'm very guilty of holding up these 80s rock stars as kind of heroes. Motley Crue, Guns N Roses, Ozzy etc. In my head, they're girl chasing, drug taking, alcohol fuelled pure mayhem personified, and I always think that's how proper rock stars behave. Not the down to earth nice guys of modern rock, pure hellraisers and excess. That's what 80s stadium rock was all about.

But these guys were something else. Really, absolute arseholes. Robbing, causing death by drink driving, just beating the shit out of people for no reason, degrading women and treating them like shit, smashing up hotels and restaurants just for fun and because they were so wasted. They really were vile humans.

It's kind of changed my opinion on the band. I've always loved that kind of music. 80s hair metal and stuff, it's not a guilty pleasure, I think it's awesome and it genuinely saddens me that the days of huge arena tours are largely behind up, but I've read a lot of books and autobiographies from people who were in the middle of that scene, and Motley Crue really did set a new low bar for downright cuntishness.
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Re: Books completed

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Alex79uk wrote: September 20th, 2019, 8:01 am But these guys were something else. Really, absolute arseholes. Robbing, causing death by drink driving, just beating the shit out of people for no reason, degrading women and treating them like shit, smashing up hotels and restaurants just for fun and because they were so wasted. They really were vile humans.
Ah, brings back memories of a cycling holiday along the Canal Du Midi a few years back.
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Re: Books completed

Post by Alex79 »

Well, I mean most cyclists think they're above the law, so...

:lol:
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Re: Books completed

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I just finished the book Armor by John Steakly. What a weird one. It starts by making you think it's a military scifi, but then becomes a character study of this famous space pirate. Then, the military scifi comes back, but it's purpose is to show how battle breaks the toughest men, so when we get back to the space pirate, he's having an existential crisis because he might not be the toughest man in the universe anymore because the soldier in the flashbacks is tougher than him.

It's the armor we all wear, emotionally. But, that title might be a bit too on the nose...

Anyway, an interesting, strange read that I enjoyed without truly loving.

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Re: Books completed

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Finished the Institute by Stephen King.

The fact that this is so middle of the road wouldn't be a problem if the book wasn't so long. I don't understand Stephen King's need to take a three star book and stretch it out. Nothing original, no interesting characters, it never twists or turns in any direction the reader couldn't guess. It would be nice if King respected his reader's time at all. Cut this by half and it's harmless.

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Re: Books completed

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I just finished The Andromeda Evolution by Daniel H. Wilson. I'm a big Crichton fan but this book did not do it for me.

I wrote a full review of the book but the gist is that Wilson is trying to imitate Crichton a bit too much and it falls flat.

https://ericmikols.com/2019/12/11/book- ... -evolution
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Re: Books completed

Post by duskvstweak »

Over the holiday, I read the Witcher book, Season of Storms, It was nice to get back to a Geralt focused story, after the Witcher novels when almost too big for their own good.

https://ericmikols.com/2020/01/04/book- ... of-storms/

I also read Jo Walton's Among Others, a fantasy book that's as much a love letter to scifi and fantasy books as it is it's own coming of age story. Also a good read.
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Re: Books completed

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duskvstweak wrote: January 4th, 2020, 6:24 pm I also read Jo Walton's Among Others, a fantasy book that's as much a love letter to scifi and fantasy books as it is it's own coming of age story. Also a good read.
That's one of my favourites. If you ever wanted a list of 70s science fiction to read, just go by the books Morwenna reads. I quite honestly didn't want this book to end.

At the other extreme of wanting books to end, I finished Lords of the Sith by Paul Kemp. I'm a fan of Drew Karpyshyn's Darth Bane books and had hoped this would be Disney's take on Sith lore. Hard nope on that score. Instead, it just seems to glorify how much death and carnage Vader can unleash while the Emperor snipes at him for his past failures. Like many of Disney's Star Wars products, it feels like a rushed, missed opportunity.
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Cass
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Re: Books completed

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This year so far I've finished:
A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine. Really loved it, as a foreigner living in a strange culture the novel's exploration of culture shock (as well as the dynamics of weaker cultures being absorbed into and around larger more dominant cultures) was super interesting. Plus the characters rock. Feels a little scrappy at times but I think it's Martine's first book, so I'm very excited to read whatever she does next. 7.5/10.

Circe, by Madeline Miller. I am a Greek history nerd, and as a gay man I'm contractually obligated to love a witch story, so Circe ticks all my boxes going in. One of those books which is a joy to just read. 8/10.

Mating In Captivity, by Esther Perel. Perel is a therapist and the book's focus is on dissecting the idea that sex lives inevitably diminish (or die entirely) within committed relationships. Her thesis is that eroticism is often stifled by modern couple's insistence on closeness, and that creating a healthy sex life within a long-term relationship often requires the creation of a small amount of emotional distance from your partner, to the long-term benefit of the relationship. Interesting read, definitely one to share and discuss with a partner. Like a lot of non-fiction or self-help, probably somewhat longer than it needs to be. 7/10.
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Re: Books completed

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Cass wrote: March 13th, 2020, 9:36 am This year so far I've finished:
A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine. Really loved it, as a foreigner living in a strange culture the novel's exploration of culture shock (as well as the dynamics of weaker cultures being absorbed into and around larger more dominant cultures) was super interesting. Plus the characters rock. Feels a little scrappy at times but I think it's Martine's first book, so I'm very excited to read whatever she does next. 7.5/10.

Circe, by Madeline Miller. I am a Greek history nerd, and as a gay man I'm contractually obligated to love a witch story, so Circe ticks all my boxes going in. One of those books which is a joy to just read. 8/10.

Mating In Captivity, by Esther Perel. Perel is a therapist and the book's focus is on dissecting the idea that sex lives inevitably diminish (or die entirely) within committed relationships. Her thesis is that eroticism is often stifled by modern couple's insistence on closeness, and that creating a healthy sex life within a long-term relationship often requires the creation of a small amount of emotional distance from your partner, to the long-term benefit of the relationship. Interesting read, definitely one to share and discuss with a partner. Like a lot of non-fiction or self-help, probably somewhat longer than it needs to be. 7/10.
My wife LOVED Circe. I signed up for a local book club that's gonna cover it, but we're moving out of state so I'll just have to read it on my own!
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Re: Books completed

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Having gone through all of Dan Abnetts Gaunt's Ghosts series (each a damn fine sci-fi war story that you do not need to have any knowledge of Warhammer 40K to enjoy) during lockdown, I decided to revisit a trilogy from my youth that I first read in my first year at secondary school, picked up ever few years during my teens and have not touched in the last fifteen years or so ...
... The Dragonlance Chronicles (Tracey Hickman and Margaret Weis) are a series that I have liked since I first read them and a fantasy series that is a staple in the genre ...

and reading the first book in the series I was majorly disappointed. I remember it fondly but apparently my teenager reading choice appears to be pretty simplistic. I'm continuing onwards through it (the appearances of Fizban do remain a delight) but on the whole, this seems to be series that has not aged at all well.

The Twins series that formed the follow-up trilogy to this are stashed in the loft somewhere and I suspect I will hunt them out to check but I'm not keen to read Dragonlance again after this reading, honestly leaving me a little sad that my memory of this series has not lived up to my expectations. I'm hoping that books two and three will remind me of the spark that I had cherished this trilogy, but I suspect that my battered collectors edition book will be departing my shelves, alongside all of the expanded universe lore.

As a side note, a random mention in this months Dragon magazine from Wizards of The Coast referred to an animated version of the first book, which I have just found in it's entirety on Youtube. There are some good names in the cast though I note the IMDB rating is 4.9/10 so I'll be looking to see what grade of bad movie it turns out to be ... :P
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Re: Books completed

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ReprobateGamer wrote: June 25th, 2020, 2:31 pm Having gone through all of Dan Abnetts Gaunt's Ghosts series (each a damn fine sci-fi war story that you do not need to have any knowledge of Warhammer 40K to enjoy) during lockdown, I decided to revisit a trilogy from my youth that I first read in my first year at secondary school, picked up ever few years during my teens and have not touched in the last fifteen years or so ...
... The Dragonlance Chronicles (Tracey Hickman and Margaret Weis) are a series that I have liked since I first read them and a fantasy series that is a staple in the genre ...

and reading the first book in the series I was majorly disappointed. I remember it fondly but apparently my teenager reading choice appears to be pretty simplistic. I'm continuing onwards through it (the appearances of Fizban do remain a delight) but on the whole, this seems to be series that has not aged at all well.

The Twins series that formed the follow-up trilogy to this are stashed in the loft somewhere and I suspect I will hunt them out to check but I'm not keen to read Dragonlance again after this reading, honestly leaving me a little sad that my memory of this series has not lived up to my expectations. I'm hoping that books two and three will remind me of the spark that I had cherished this trilogy, but I suspect that my battered collectors edition book will be departing my shelves, alongside all of the expanded universe lore.

As a side note, a random mention in this months Dragon magazine from Wizards of The Coast referred to an animated version of the first book, which I have just found in it's entirety on Youtube. There are some good names in the cast though I note the IMDB rating is 4.9/10 so I'll be looking to see what grade of bad movie it turns out to be ... :P
The library I worked at received a whole bunch of those Dragonlance books as a donations a few years ago and they were pretty popular for a while, but they did eventually stop checking out. I always thought they looked cool, but maybe, as your review mentions, I might be too old for them.

If you like Dan Abnett, have you checked out his comic book work? He did Annihilation: Conquest for Marvel and pretty much created the Guardians of the Galaxy lineup that the movies popularized.
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Re: Books completed

Post by ReprobateGamer »

I haven't read much of his work for DC/Marvel in all honesty.

Something on my 'I will get around to' list ...

The Dragonlance movie is as bad as the reviews imply BTW
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Cass
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Re: Books completed

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I'm really struggling with Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. I don't know whether it's the 60s anachronisms, the casual sexism or the fact that none of the ideas discussed are especially thought-provoking or controversial in 2020, but I'm having to make myself sit down and read it. I'm like 75% of the way through so if anyone wants to tell me it gets really good in the latter quarter, that would go a long way to motivating me to get through it.
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