April's Amazing Adventures and Articles

[Vertigo]

Just finished The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi and it was good but, as Menion said earlier in this thread, not as good as the previous book Old Man's War.

Probably some more SF now though not decided what yet!

Reading and enjoying The curious case of the dog in the night time by Mark Haddon. It explains the behaviour of a lot of people I work with.

Has anyone read The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi? Saw it at the bookshop and wondered if it was any good. Like a good cyberpunkish story so long as the story is not too confused (like The Quantum Thief was).

I would agree with Hypnos' assessment. I liked it but there were a lot of annoying things. With all the Chinese, Thai and Japanese words thrown in I was constantly googling. A glossary would have been useful. If you want one, I did throw one together for my own use. I have posted it elsewhere on another thread but could probably find it

I also agree with regard to the technology; all electricity seems to be generated manually by winding up storage springs. Whilst this was an interesting concept in a resource depleted world, I saw no use of any other power source; wind, wave, tide, hydro, solar. Which just didn't ring true for me.

I actually think his collection of short stories - Pump Six and other Stories - was better and I'm not generally a great fan of short stories.

 

[Lord Soth]

Have finished Galactic North and now have a choice between The Desert Spear, Left Hand of God, Hyperion, Under Heaven or the Black Lung Captain (Peter Brett, Paul Hoffman, Dan Simmons, Guy Gavriel Kay or Chris Wooding respectively).

Haven't read of these yet and am finding it hard to make a decision!

 

[Vertigo]

Just started the Quiet War by Paul McAuley. I don't think I've read anything by him before; he seems to have slipped past my radar somehow.

 

[jojajihisc]

Cruising right through The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod.

 

[AE35Unit]

Gave up with Heinlein's Moon is a Harsh Mistress- life's too short! Started reading For Love of Mother- not by Alan Dean Foster instead- prelude to the Pip and Flinx books

 

[Hober Mallow]

Reading More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon.

 

[Vertigo]

Gave up with Heinlein's Moon is a Harsh Mistress- life's too short! Started reading For Love of Mother- not by Alan Dean Foster instead- prelude to the Pip and Flinx books

I'm a little surprised by that AE. It was a very long time ago but I don't recall stuggling at all when I read it; I only remember loving it!

 

[bluespider100]

Now reading Invasive Procedures by OSC.

 

[AE35Unit]

I'm a little surprised by that AE. It was a very long time ago but I don't recall stuggling at all when I read it; I only remember loving it!

See my explanation here:
SF Addict: A Heinlein fail!

 

[gully_foyle]

Thanks Hyp and Vert, it sounds like I would be kind of plain annoyed with this book, given your criticisms. Sigh... what to read next. I'm off on a family holiday and nothing to read.

 

[woodsman]

See my explanation here:
SF Addict: A Heinlein fail!

Yeah I can see how that would annoy. I loved the politicing however, so there you go.

Started and finished The World that Jones built by a certainP.K.Dick enjoyed it. Not the weirdest of Dick's works and thus easier to follow and really get involved in. He does, as usual, tackle some big ideas; not least of which is precognition with an interesting slant. I'd reccomend it, tbut then I tend to reccomend all Dick so...

Moved onto Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds just getting started really, but I like the given premise.

 

[Arkose]

I just finished His Dark Materials Trilogy, byPhilip Pullman. The first time I have ever read the series and I was really surprise what the story was actually about. Honestly, if you told me about all the religion involved I would have never picked it up. I am glade I did though, really good first two books. The third book was a little disappointing, I have tons of questions that I thought would get answered, but I was left hanging. The characters for me made the story though. I really enjoyed all the characters (except the priest that had no point at all but took a dozen or so pages) and their stories had a conclusion.

I am now left with a slightly empty feeling that I get after every good trilogy. I need a new Trilogy, probably have something in a week after searching this forum and what not.

 

[cornelius]

Dust of Dreams was mailed to me the other day. Reading into it now, I wonder if I should have ordered Crippled God at the same time, given the two books go together. But as my reading rate is very slow at the moment, I don't think I'll get through this one that fast.

 

[Demonomania]

One series seemed to have been mentioned time and time again here, so after a long search at the library I picked up The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker. I'm about half way through and really enjoying it, hope he can keep it up.

 

[Hypnos164]

One series seemed to have been mentioned time and time again here, so after a long search at the library I picked up The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker. I'm about half way through and really enjoying it, hope he can keep it up.

Yay, a convert!

In my opinion he does very much keep up the quality and momentum through the 1st trilogy.

Haven't started the 2nd trilogy yet as I want to have all 3 books before I do; given that I read the 1st 3 almost back to back (baring delivery time).

 

[Hypnos164]

Fair amount of reading done this weeked:

Faded Steel Heat - Glen Cook (not the best Garrett by some margin)
Abandon in Place - Jerry Oltion (good start, kind of odd conclusion)
Tiassa - Steven Brust (good but felt a bit like the prologue to another book ... hopefully)

Now reading The Black Ice Score by Richard Stark

 

[Connavar]

See my explanation here:
SF Addict: A Heinlein fail!

Hehe you will hate Starship Troopers and his later 60s mature works. Most of his novels i have read are very much about political idiologies.

Frankly he is the best classic sf writer when it comes to politics use in SF. If you like that like i do then its perfect.

Maybe you will enjoy his more adventure juvies or his more different later works. I hear they are very weird.

 

[AE35Unit]

Hehe you will hate Starship Troopers and his later 60s mature works. Most of his novels i have read are very much about political idiologies.

Frankly he is the best classic sf writer when it comes to politics use in SF. If you like that like i do then its perfect.

Maybe you will enjoy his more adventure juvies or his more different later works. I hear they are very weird.

Well the politics wasnt so bad, it weas the grammar he used!
I've read and enjoyed Stranger in a Strange Land, and thats quite a large book!

 

[ravenus]

Finished Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Douglas Adams) , which worked a lot better for me than the Hitchhiker's Guide...books. The best praise I can give this one is that it's almost as good as a good Terry Pratchett book.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

How is he a good political writer? He sets up strawman arguments which he then demolishes with ease and he loads the bases to favour his own chosen ideas and characters. He was a good storyteller at his best, but not particularly subtle or complex in the way he engages with his later political or social ideas in his novels.

I've finished The Woman In Black by Susan Hill, a very effective and well-written ghost story in the traditional mould, although little more than a genre exercise in the end. Also read Prater Violet by Christopher Isherwood, a funny and poignant account of his time spent working on a film with a Viennese director who proves to be an unforgettable character, a true 'tragic Punch'.