Favorite books / What are you reading?

[Barrett]

Thanks Hassknecht, I'll finish the Gibson books.
Actually I'm trying to do my 'essential reading' with these.
After finishing the listed books I'll go and try to get the Thrawn-trilogy (the only SW books that seem to worth reading) and then come the heavyweight, Les Misérables.
And yeah, I read 1984, excellent book, the last 100 pages were finished one night, it was that good.

About Neuromancer (I mean the spoiler tag!)
[spoiler:2a3cf29c5d]The Flatline has apparently been erased by Wintermute on par with the agreement, but it is hinted in the epilogue that he is still alive (in the matrix?). Does he makes an appearance in the sequel(s)?[/spoiler:2a3cf29c5d]

 

[Hassknecht]

About Neuromancer (I mean the spoiler tag!)
[spoiler:056c6666b2]The Flatline has apparently been erased by Wintermute on par with the agreement, but it is hinted in the epilogue that he is still alive (in the matrix?). Does he makes an appearance in the sequel(s)?[/spoiler:056c6666b2]

[spoiler:056c6666b2]Not that I remember it.[/spoiler:056c6666b2]
The Thrawn-trilogy is worth it, best SW books truly.
If you like more hard sci fi I recommend you the books by Vernor Vinge.
'A Fire Upon the Deep' and 'A Deepness in the Sky' (he really likes the word 'deep' apparently) are excellent books.
'A Fire...' has an excellent surrounding universe (I study physics and it's really hard to introduce faster-than-light travel and not make me cringe at the thought of it) and really interesting alien lifeforms and a simply amazing plot.
'A Deepness...' is also great, it takes place in the same universe and has a returning character from 'A Fire...'.
I'd recommend reading 'A Fire...' first and then 'A Deepness...' as that's the order is the books were released in, although the chronological order would be reversed.
Anyway, everyone who likes scifi should read those books!

 

[Guiltyofbeingtrite]

I know she's not for everyone but if you want/can tolerate left politics Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed is one of my favorite stories with a great protagonist in Shevek and some of the best character development I've read. It does a great job of tackling collectivism vs. capitalism and the stubbornness of both ideals.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

So I am at a junction here, should I
(a) continue reading the Sprawl-trilogy with 'Count Zero'
(b) get 'Snow Crash' which I heard is an all-round better book than Neuromancer
-or-
(c) read 'Brave New World' by A. Huxley to get my dystopian fix ?

I'd recommend reading all three eventually.

I did just finish Snow Crash a few weeks ago, and it's a great book, but falls short of Gibson, and here's why. Snow Crash is way too cutesy and filled with yuk yuk jokes for me. Like the main character is Hiro Protagonist (GET IT?), he works for Uncle Enzo's La Cosa Nostra Pizza franchise (pizza/mafia/'enzo wakka wakka wakka). It is funny, and it's better than Gibson at parody/ridicule/cynicism of American commerical/religious/military culture. Stephenson is a one-of-a-kind writer, he's very witty, well-read and sharp. He packs more smart references and metaphors into a page than I've ever read. He's a wonderful writer, and the first 100 pages of Snow Crash are mind-blowing. Still, I'll take Gibson's noir-y pathos and "high-tech lowlifes" anyday. His prose is much better than Stephenson's by leaps and bounds. Stephenson is more of a hot-shot showing off his wit IMO. Which, the guy is phenomenal, but in a much different way than Gibson. I have more of a soft spot for William Gibson since I'm an IT stoner who spends a lot of time in Tokyo.

I think Count Zero is the weakest Gibson book I've read.



Right now reading Pynchon's Vineland. Can't help thinking Lebowski's "The Dude" is a rip-off of Zoyd Wheeler.

 

[maximaz]

Can anyone recommend a good sci fi action book? I was given a copy of Halo: First Strike and after a couple of chapters I just couldn't take it. Anyone know of anything similar that is actually good?

EDIT: What I mean by "similar" and "sci fi" is that it takes place in a fully sci fi setting, not a story with sci fi elements. Basically, imagine a good book in a Halo, Star Wars, or Mass Effect universe.

 

[Wintermind]

Maximaz: The First of the Halo books, The Fall of Reach is pretty good by far, and does a lot more scifi stuff other than try to fill plot holes in between games. Of course, it's one of the first scifi things i read that subsequently got me reading Arthur C. Clarke and Neal Stephenson.

I just started reading the Rum Diary, by Hunter S. Thompson.

Have you ever read any of the Polseen War books by John Ringo? They're trash, but it's entertaining trash. And you can do some light googling and read them all online because Baen has a cool policy about ebooks (ie, put 'em online for all for free).

EDIT: Also anything by Ian M. Banks. I recommend stating with "Consider Phlebas" and working your way through the entirety of the culture novels and the few non Culture novels he's written. you can read them however you like, except for Look to Windward, which is the only sequel in the series (and it's to Consider Phlebas). My favorite is a toss up between Use of Weapons and Excession and Against A Dark Background, which isn't a Culture novel but one of the best.

 

[Walpknut]

I just got the first 5 tankobons/volumes/compilations of 20th Century Boys by Naoki Urazawa, the best japanese comic ever written, gonna read it again, albeit it ends just smack in the first major Time Skip, talk about cock tease.

 

[Tagaziel]

Currently reading Hunters of Dune immediately after finishing Chapterhouse Dune and so far it is a worthy continuation of the Dune saga. While Butlerian Jihad was only acceptable, this book is far better and feels like it was based on Frank Herbert's own plans for Dune 7.

 

[DammitBoy]

Just finished the 'Last Centurian' by Johnny Ringo. A very ultra macho tale of a apocalyptic plague from a military perspective written in a blog fashion.

Kinda interesting mix of science, politics, and over the top military jingoism and misogyny.

If you liked the deathlands books or outlanders series, you'll love this stuff.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

Currently reading Hunters of Dune immediately after finishing Chapterhouse Dune and so far it is a worthy continuation of the Dune saga. While Butlerian Jihad was only acceptable, this book is far better and feels like it was based on Frank Herbert's own plans for Dune 7.

You're in for a rude awakening, the ending of that book is all KJ Anderson and, well, you'll see. The guy is a facile hack compared to Frank Herbert.

A very ultra macho

This is usually a euphemism for homoerotic.

 

[DammitBoy]

A very ultra macho

This is usually a euphemism for homoerotic.

Maybe in your world, in mine it's just over the top machoism like you might find in the WWF arena. I find that it detracts from the storyline and tend to ignore it.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

Oh, not homoerotic like pro-wrestling. Gotcha.

Hyperion.

Thanks for the feedback, I've never been disappointed by any of the Hugo winners I've read before. I found a new copy of this at a book sale for $1 (retail is for suckers) and will push it to the top of the queue.

Some massive used book stores near where I live, but the good stuff tends to circulate fast, I tend to buy them faster than I can read them. $1 for paperbacks and they buy them back for a quarter. Good deal.

 

[Wintermind]

Oh John Ringo No!

 

[DammitBoy]

Oh, not homoerotic like pro-wrestling. Gotcha.

Not that there's anything wrong with it, but you seem to find erotic homoism everywhere you look. Maybe you're projecting the inside of your head?

Oh John Ringo No!

Ehhh, you gott a take his stuff with a grain of salt. Kinda like reading 'the Survivalist' series by Jerry Ahern.

 

[Wintermind]

It's not a grain of salt, it's a fucking mountain and you don't need salt you need something far superior. Like gunpowder, so you can blast that shit out of your mind.

I've three Ringo books. Ghost. Kildar. And the first Posleen war book.

The first Posleen one was interesting, and pretty decent. Ghost. Kildar. uehgalgalgjashajfasd


I don't have words for that shit. There are, in fact, no words for ghost. Or kildar

 

[The Vault Dweller]

Hyperion.

Thanks for the feedback, I've never been disappointed by any of the Hugo winners I've read before. I found a new copy of this at a book sale for $1 (retail is for suckers) and will push it to the top of the queue.

Some massive used book stores near where I live, but the good stuff tends to circulate fast, I tend to buy them faster than I can read them. $1 for paperbacks and they buy them back for a quarter. Good deal.

Oh I have a bad habit of loving things that people of similar tastes hate to the point where I'm not sure if I have similar tastes. Please tell me what you think of it after some time reading.

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller

 

[Tagaziel]

You're in for a rude awakening, the ending of that book is all KJ Anderson and, well, you'll see. The guy is a facile hack compared to Frank Herbert.

Must've missed the part where I'm supposed to awaken, but I didn't mind. You mean the nature of the great predator that haunted the Honored Matres?

 

[DammitBoy]

I don't have words for that shit. There are, in fact, no words for ghost. Or kildar

Agreed, those were mountains of salty misogyny-machoism.

The Last Centurion barely touches on that crappola.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

Must've missed the part where I'm supposed to awaken, but I didn't mind. You mean the nature of the great predator that haunted the Honored Matres?

Yeah, that, and the identity if the old couple of "observers" (?), that are introduced in the last pages of Chapterhouse, is revealed at the end of Hunters. I don't want to spoil it for you, Anderson does that just fine himself. It's dreadful and poorly written to boot. I read those last 2 out of obligation and regret it. I'd like to hear your thoughts after you read these last two. I think they will change your opinion.

The Dune spinoffs are to Dune like Fanta Grape is to Château Mouton Rothschild. To make matters worse they exploit it so brazenly.
First there were the 3 prequels.
Then the 3 pre-prequels.
Now the sequels, which had to be divided into two books.
But wait there's more, now they do inter-equals? Finding gaps that were never there, and filling them in. I'm done with those clowns.
To top it all off, I hear in these inter-equals they reveal that the events of Frank Herbert's Dune are not canon, but in-universe texts consisting of factual errors when they contradict the spin-offs! This is not a joke. They've retconned the whole series and leave it wide open for endless cash-ins. That's pretty ballsy to do someone else's work that you're exploiting. And it's not like they're good books, they suck.

To put it in Fallout terms. That's like Todd Howard pulling his "it never happened, it was all just a in-universe computer simulation" trick to retcon the first two Fallout games to accommodate wherever he wants to take things.

Oh I have a bad habit of loving things that people of similar tastes hate to the point where I'm not sure if I have similar tastes. Please tell me what you think of it after some time reading.

I wouldn't hold you to it, it's been sitting on my shelf since last year.

 

[Wintermind]

I'm not reading any of Ringo's tripe ever again though so V:shobon