FWIS3

Finally got around to reading Starship Troopers

code monkey wrote:I've just ordered book 1 in the ancillary series based on your statement. couldn't find the aliette de bodard but will keep an eye out for it. it sounds fascinating.

Aww thanks! Yeah I think you'll enjoy the Ancillary series - I need to reread them TBH.

The de Bodard one: https://www.amazon.com/Tea-Master-Detec ... 8&qid=&sr=

Looks like it's not in print anymore or something, the physical copies are stupidly expensive.

lady_*nix wrote:

code monkey wrote:I've just ordered book 1 in the ancillary series based on your statement. couldn't find the aliette de bodard but will keep an eye out for it. it sounds fascinating.

Aww thanks! Yeah I think you'll enjoy the Ancillary series - I need to reread them TBH.

The de Bodard one: https://www.amazon.com/Tea-Master-Detec ... 8&qid=&sr=

Looks like it's not in print anymore or something, the physical copies are stupidly expensive.

I did want a physical copy so I will order it on interlibrary loan. a nearby library does have a copy.

I have started reading "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century" by Timothy Snyder. It's not a long read but it is enlightening.

The Malus Domestica trilogy by S.A. Hunt. It's... uh... thematically pulpy urban fantasy, but stylistically draws more from Stephen King? Leans a lot on unsubverted Christian lore for my taste, but the horror elements are very well done, the characters are pretty good, and the protagonist is relatable and convincingly fucked up. I dig it, I kind of need that entertainment right now.

I've just started the calligrapher's daughter.

code monkey wrote:I've just started the calligrapher's daughter.

dropped that and am reading tales from Margaritaville by jimmy buffett.

The Blue Place, Aud Torvingen novel 1 of 3. I wound up reading them in backwards order, because it's kind of hard to find the early ones.

https://nicolagriffith.com/2014/02/25/the-aud-books/

Aud is an endearing jerk in a way women aren't usually allowed to be in fiction, and it's fun to watch her angst, snark, kick a lot of ass, and not understand herself at all.

Just finished The Fortress by SA Jones:

https://www.sajones.com.au/the-fortress

I was ready to be disappointed TBH, but it's extremely good, and carries its concept through to the end. I loved it.

I've been trying to read Stand On Zanzibar, a classic novel by John Brunner. I'd read it way back when but can't seem to slog through this time, which is a bit disappointing.

geonuc wrote:I've been trying to read Stand On Zanzibar, a classic novel by John Brunner. I'd read it way back when but can't seem to slog through this time, which is a bit disappointing.

That's MrPi's favorite book. I'll have to see how recently he's read it.

Star Trek Psychology.

pumpkinpi wrote:That's MrPi's favorite book. I'll have to see how recently he's read it.

It's written in a very unusual style, which is what I'm having trouble with.

I definitely tried and failed pretty early on for just that reason.

I just started reading The Long Walk by Stephen King, which I am calling from now on "Hunger Games for grown-ups."

Rommie wrote:I definitely tried and failed pretty early on for just that reason.

I just started reading The Long Walk by Stephen King, which I am calling from now on "Hunger Games for grown-ups."

I've read a different book entitled The Long Walk, by Slavomir Rawicz. It tells the story of a group of prisoners who escaped from a Soviet labor camp in Siberia and walked south to India. Just think about what lies between Siberia and India. Great book.

Rommie wrote:I definitely tried and failed pretty early on for just that reason.

I just started reading The Long Walk by Stephen King, which I am calling from now on "Hunger Games for grown-ups."

I'd love to hear what you think of it!

So would I.

Right now I think it's gonna go pretty quick because I'm at ~40% and started less than a day ago. And it's fascinating how so much is about how teenage boys argue/talk- I guess King knows more about this having been one himself, but for someone who wasn't it's fascinating. I'll post a final review once I'm done.

geonuc's sounds good too.

That was indeed a fast read. I liked it. It's obviously a bit macabre, and I would have preferred a few more details about how the Long Walk and the current order came to be (it seemed a bit strange to me that so many people would sign up to do it!), but obviously it's more about the psychological tolls and relationships between the Walkers and such. I also wonder when the movie is going to be made, as it does seem primed for one.

"The Long Walk" is one of several books written by Stephen King under the pen name "Richard Bachman". Although I'm pretty sure you knew that already. I read The "Long Walk" and "The Running Man." I liked "The Running Man" better. The movie with Schwarzenegger sucked big time though. I stopped reading King after his novels became too much like forensic medicine reports. And my favorite novel by him is "The Eyes of the Dragon".

My thing about Stephen King is I have really enjoyed what I've read by him, but I'm always scared to dive deep into his works because I know I'd be scared shitless and get nightmares and that's not my idea of fun.

So off the top of my head, the ones I read and liked are Misery, The Institute, 11/23/63, and this last one of course. I confess I tried The Strand but couldn't get into it- probably because it was within the last year- and one or two others when they first came out (Cell I think was one). But sounds like The Running Man might be one for me to check out; I think Under the Dome would probably be a good fit for me too, but happy if people have suggestions on which ones I should read!

I think what I marvel at in Stephen King btw is just how even a "minor" book like The Institute, which will not be remembered as one of his big works, was nevertheless so good that I feel if most people ever wrote something of that quality they'd think they have done something notable in life. I don't know if that makes any sense, but even in my own capacity as a writer it's just amazing how good the writing itself is. I'll be royally pissed if English departments in the future snub him, because if they do it's definitely an indication of "so good it seems too simple," IMO.

Salem's Lot is one of the best scary vampire stories ever written.

I don't know how I missed this discussion this summer. I've read just about everything King has written and I have so much to say. But I'll just leave this. Try Hearts in Atlantis, particularly the first of the stories, Low Men in Yellow Coats. I've never read a story so elegantly written, with every word perfectly in its place.

Countdown, Astronaut Frank Borman's autobiography.

Currently: Certain Dark Things, a cyberpunkish vampire novel by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (better known for Mexican Gothic). It's... uh... very good and very entertaining, but also not what you'd expect from the blurb; it's not much of a spoiler to say that the vampire protag is actually a newbie and far out of her depth. She's hella well written though, both sympathetic and believably inhuman. Likewise the male protag, a vampire fanboy and lovable doofus who has no idea what he's getting into. There's also genetically engineered Dobermanns, vampire-on-vampire colonialism, a hardboiled detective/vampire hunter, and the whole thing is set in an alternate history Mexico City where vampires are officially banned (because the rest of Mexico is rife with vampire drug gangs). It's a lot and I like it a lot.