what are you reading?

[F-ZeroOne]

Somewhat suitable for this forum: "Electrified Sheep", by Alex Boese, about some of the more bizarre turns SCIENCE! has taken over the years. Features No.311, the atomic super-pig.

No, I'm not making that up.

[noodles]

Finished Kingpin by Kevin Poulsen.
It's about the bust of stolen credit card data suppliers in the US and the life of the main traders' web site admin who was also selling and hacking at the same time. Well written and very hard to put down.

Trying to get into Godel Escher Bach but just a few pages in it feels like I'm reading a math textbook.

[merman]

Retro Gamer issue 99, which settles once and for all the argument... the Commodore 64 is better than the Spectrum. So there.

[disciple]

Finally finished Crime and Punishment, really enjoyed it.

Currently reading :



Really engrossing, right from page 1, it's a bit disturbing so far.

This was excellent BTW.

It is a bit disturbing, it's about a lass who's been kidnapped and kept in a room - Fritz style!

Though it's not sick, gory, grotesque or anything like that, as you might expect. I don't want to say anymore, it's a great read and a page turner.

[funkstar]

Trying to get into Godel Escher Bach but just a few pages in it feels like I'm reading a math textbook.

The thing is that you only really see the points he wants to make if you know all the formal stuff, already. And even then, it's not quite a page-turner.

[nyarla]

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (english version, all three books in one big fat book).. about halfway through, enjoying it heaps.

[F-ZeroOne]

Retro Gamer issue 99, which settles once and for all the argument... the Commodore 64 is better than the Spectrum. So there.

Their forums actually put the Speccy slightly ahead...

[venusian]

This was excellent BTW.

Hope you're right; just bought it on your recommendation.

Still reading through the 12 days of Kindle stuff. Recently finished The Greenhouse (high quality character driven fiction from Iceland) and the Etymologicon (100mph blast through the library, fishing net in hand).

About a 1/3 of the way though Crime and Punishment. It's good to read but too long-winded to be a addictive. Will get it finished eventually but it will probably take me years of fits and bursts.

[everklear]

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (english version, all three books in one big fat book).. about halfway through, enjoying it heaps.

That's a trilogy?? (Wow, I'm ignorant...)
I've been planning to buy it but I've only recently finished all five "Song of Ice and Fire" books. I might need a break before I dive into another big set. It does seem well regarded and I enjoyed the two free review chapters.

Decisions....

[nyarla]

It doesn't feel much longer than some of his other novels to me.. tis all one big story, but I think was published as three seperate books in Japan.. If you read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, it feels of a similar length to that. (Thicker book but faster moving, maybe..).. Nowhere near as dreamlike as some of his other stuff but very good, I reckon. (3/4 read now)

[disciple]

This was excellent BTW.

Hope you're right; just bought it on your recommendation.

Still reading through the 12 days of Kindle stuff. Recently finished The Greenhouse (high quality character driven fiction from Iceland) and the Etymologicon (100mph blast through the library, fishing net in hand).

About a 1/3 of the way though Crime and Punishment. It's good to read but too long-winded to be a addictive. Will get it finished eventually but it will probably take me years of fits and bursts.

Really enjoyed C&P, was the Pavear translation I'm not sure how the translations differ.

How was The Greenhouse? I purchased that in the Amazon sale when it was cheap.

[venusian]

How was The Greenhouse?

I thought it was excellent in that it gives you lots to think about. It's almost entirely character driven; not much actually happens to the world, but lots happens to (and in) the main character. Also it consists almost entirely of metaphors.

The supporting cast is very strongly drawn and, rightly, only examined from the main character's PoV so there's lots of ambiguity about their motives (albeit there are some very telling insights) and the reader is left to consider what they're really up to. The various landscapes are superbly drawn. If it was a painting it would have an excellent sense of light and shade.

At one point near the end I had to put it down to walk round the room a few times biting my fist before carrying on reading. Tense stuff.

[Mat]

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Rudy Rucker's Ware Tetralogy, I then discovered Orson Scott Card has written a companion book for Ender's Game called Ender's Shadow which follows the character Bean.
It was a great read and I loved the opportunity to visit Battle School again, but while I love his books, the more I learn about Card, the bigger the problem I have.
For a start, he's devout Mormon. Not some fringe Christian church, but one of the more out there whack-job ones.
And he's an outspoken homophobe. I mean, root-level, crime in the eyes of God, gaybasher.
I don't get it.
I can honestly say that Ender's Game is deserving of Sci-Fi classic status, yet it was written by someone whose world view almost completely opposes my own and is ignorant at best, prejudiced and hateful at worst.
Does. Not. Compute.

To cleanse the palate and help me remember that there's nothing better in life than good old fashioned depravity, I'm now reading Chuck Palahniuk's Damned, kind of Adrian Mole meets the Breakfast Club in Hell. Literally in Hell. The lakes of misspent sperm, seas of invertebrates, fields of fingernail clippings, rivers and oceans of shit kind of Hell where demons roam devouring sinners. And as is the way with Palahniuk, it's a cutting social commentary and satire. Not sure it's his best work; I've read so much of his stuff, all of his books seem to possess a familiar "Voice" for me now, but it's nice to be back in his all-too-human world of everyday perversity.

And yes, I really can't recommend the Ware Tetralogy highly enough. Rudy Rucker has a unique vision I've not come across in Sci Fi before. There's a bit of Jeff Noon in there, but not as hipster cool; a bit of Carlton Mellick III, but not quite as batshit insane. And a lot of stuff that verges on hard Sci Fi thanks to Rudy's grounding in Maths.

[F-ZeroOne]

Just finished "Robopocalypse" by Daniel H. Wilson. It would make a hell of a "Terminator" film but going by the authors credits its already been snapped up by "Dreamworks".

[the2bears]

Just finished "Robopocalypse" by Daniel H. Wilson. It would make a hell of a "Terminator" film but going by the authors credits its already been snapped up by "Dreamworks".

I finished this a few weeks back, too. Enjoyed it, pretty easy read given the narrative style.

Bill