Just plodding through Sagan's "Contact" at the moment. Shamed though I am to say it, the film is better. Sagan's writing style is (perhaps unsurprisingly) just a touch too staid and ... methodical. Like he's writing a technical paper, and has a dozen points to make in it, and is ticking them off one by one. Signal - check. Technology - check. God - check. Age-old divisions between the scientific and religious castes - check. Government vs. Commerce - check. Cold War Fears - check. Sexism in the sciences - check. A bit boring - check.
I mean, it's good. But it's a bit of a struggle.
LibraryThing says I have 52 titles on my unread list. I think I'll do Death Star next, which I picked up the other day (along with Batman: Hush (vol 1 & 2) and The Jokers' Last Laugh and Use of Weapons.
what are you reading?
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thalamus
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Re: what are you reading?
Fight Club (Chuck Palahniuk)
Reads so effortlessly, and is remarkably close to the film...
...and is probably Palahniuk's finest work, bar-none. Some really, really nicely crafted stuff in there.
Reads so effortlessly, and is remarkably close to the film...
Spoiler: show
"We don't have a great war in our generation, or a great depression, but we do, we have a great war of the spirit. We have a great revolution against the culture. The great depression is ourlives. We have a spiritual depression." - Tyler Durden
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benedictw
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Re: what are you reading?
Hunter's Run - George RR Martin, Gardener Dozois, Daniel Abraham.
Gamertag\PSN: CoderBen
Re: what are you reading?
I'm attempting 'A Brief History of Time' by Stephen Hawking. On the second chapter now, and although I've had to re-read paragraphs a couple of times, I'm clinging on so far 
Re: what are you reading?
After reading the very odd but strangely enjoyable Orcs-in-Space "East of the Sun, West of the Moon", by John Ringo (I forgot to mention the authors name previously. Sorry. I think it was because I couldn't believe anyone actually has "Ringo" as a surname), I picked up up "Hells Faire" from the library. This is part of a different series, and being a library book, not the first volume, so excuse some shakiness in the details.
Its just about now, and Earth has been invaded by the reptilian Polseen, who want to eat us and do unspeakable things to our wimmen. And they've basically kicked humanitys ass, except in America, where some allied alien help has enabled some resistance to be mounted. F**k yeah.
I'm only part-way through the book, which basically throws you right into the middle of the kind of sci-fi firefight where even a nuclear bombardment is something of a secondary concern, and it moves along at a cracking pace. Theres some post-modern in-jokes here, and it reads a bit like a Halo novel scripted by Tom Clancy.
It also features a tank called the SheVa. The SheVa is the most tanky tank there has ever been. The Polseen have these heavily armoured gunships that are a bitch to kill. Until one got into a gunfight with the U.S.S. North Carolina, a battleship equipped with nine sixteen inch guns, which apparently make quite a mess of heavily armoured gunships (this action seems to have occurred in a previous book and I would love to read it).
So clever humanity took a sixteen inch gun, added some alien thrills to it - plasma injectors, electromagnetic accelerators, that kind of thing. They then built a chassis to house it - one with a 12,000 horsepower engine powered by four pebble-bed nuclear reactors.
Did I mention that one SheVa weighs 7,000 tons? (a fully loaded M-1 tank, todays most kick-ass real world tank, weighs about 70).
And then its crew called it Bun-Bun, after a homicidal rabbit from the web comic "Sluggy Freelance".
Like I say, odd. But strangely enjoyable. Again, recommended if you like really detailed descriptions of what a 3mm sub-calibre depleted uranium penetrator can do to an anti-matter containment vessel.
Its just about now, and Earth has been invaded by the reptilian Polseen, who want to eat us and do unspeakable things to our wimmen. And they've basically kicked humanitys ass, except in America, where some allied alien help has enabled some resistance to be mounted. F**k yeah.
I'm only part-way through the book, which basically throws you right into the middle of the kind of sci-fi firefight where even a nuclear bombardment is something of a secondary concern, and it moves along at a cracking pace. Theres some post-modern in-jokes here, and it reads a bit like a Halo novel scripted by Tom Clancy.
It also features a tank called the SheVa. The SheVa is the most tanky tank there has ever been. The Polseen have these heavily armoured gunships that are a bitch to kill. Until one got into a gunfight with the U.S.S. North Carolina, a battleship equipped with nine sixteen inch guns, which apparently make quite a mess of heavily armoured gunships (this action seems to have occurred in a previous book and I would love to read it).
So clever humanity took a sixteen inch gun, added some alien thrills to it - plasma injectors, electromagnetic accelerators, that kind of thing. They then built a chassis to house it - one with a 12,000 horsepower engine powered by four pebble-bed nuclear reactors.
Did I mention that one SheVa weighs 7,000 tons? (a fully loaded M-1 tank, todays most kick-ass real world tank, weighs about 70).
And then its crew called it Bun-Bun, after a homicidal rabbit from the web comic "Sluggy Freelance".
Like I say, odd. But strangely enjoyable. Again, recommended if you like really detailed descriptions of what a 3mm sub-calibre depleted uranium penetrator can do to an anti-matter containment vessel.
"Stars don't twinkle in space." - Char Aznable.
Re: what are you reading?
'The Scheme for Full Employment' by Magnus Mills
(just show, no stabby stabby)
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HGFB
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Re: what are you reading?
I am so reading that series.F-ZeroOne wrote: So clever humanity took a sixteen inch gun, added some alien thrills to it - plasma injectors, electromagnetic accelerators, that kind of thing. They then built a chassis to house it - one with a 12,000 horsepower engine powered by four pebble-bed nuclear reactors.
Did I mention that one SheVa weighs 7,000 tons? (a fully loaded M-1 tank, todays most kick-ass real world tank, weighs about 70).
And then its crew called it Bun-Bun, after a homicidal rabbit from the web comic "Sluggy Freelance".
Like I say, odd. But strangely enjoyable. Again, recommended if you like really detailed descriptions of what a 3mm sub-calibre depleted uranium penetrator can do to an anti-matter containment vessel.
My bag is called Mr Shitface
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HGFB
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Re: what are you reading?
I'm torn now. The first five books of 7000 ton tank action are in the free Baen library. Now I can either start reading the first one or I can read this book that arrived today.
Which first? Sci-fi war with huge weapons or teenage girl turns into boy during her time of the month?
Fro says go with the tank. On the other hand the front cover of the other book has a girl in a bra.
Which first? Sci-fi war with huge weapons or teenage girl turns into boy during her time of the month?
Fro says go with the tank. On the other hand the front cover of the other book has a girl in a bra.
My bag is called Mr Shitface
Re: what are you reading?
Jesus, do you know how many manga and anime and have used that plot? 
(the girl/boy thing, not 7,000 ton tanks with huge cann - oh, wait... )
(the girl/boy thing, not 7,000 ton tanks with huge cann - oh, wait... )"Stars don't twinkle in space." - Char Aznable.
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thalamus
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Re: what are you reading?
I read The Restraint of Beasts a couple of years ago. Completely directionless novel, but a joy to read.kalmar wrote:'The Scheme for Full Employment' by Magnus Mills
"We don't have a great war in our generation, or a great depression, but we do, we have a great war of the spirit. We have a great revolution against the culture. The great depression is ourlives. We have a spiritual depression." - Tyler Durden
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piku
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Re: what are you reading?
but...HGFB wrote:On the other hand the front cover of the other book has a girl in a bra.
so it's like you're getting the stickies over a sheman...teenage girl turns into boy during her time of the month
return (0);
Re: what are you reading?
piku wrote:so it's like you're getting the stickies over a sheman...teenage girl turns into boy during her time of the month
I rest my case your honourHGFB wrote: Richard Morgan - The Steel Remains.
It's fun, brutal and very easy to read. Likeable characters and a hero who's basically Kovacs with a sword. He loves the cock too.
(just show, no stabby stabby)
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HGFB
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Re: what are you reading?
I chose Tanks over bras.
Big mistake. The author seems to be a coder, a sci-fi fanboy and a horrible nerd. He keeps dropping nerd bombs into the narrative that are so awful they make *me* cringe.
I'm sorry but the day the Earth finds out that aliens are real and coming to invade is *not* the day the US military calls in David Weber for advice.
Big mistake. The author seems to be a coder, a sci-fi fanboy and a horrible nerd. He keeps dropping nerd bombs into the narrative that are so awful they make *me* cringe.
I'm sorry but the day the Earth finds out that aliens are real and coming to invade is *not* the day the US military calls in David Weber for advice.
My bag is called Mr Shitface
Re: what are you reading?
Sorry. I sort of liked it, but then I like watching Japanese people with really big eyes say things like "You are already DEAD!".
"Stars don't twinkle in space." - Char Aznable.