what are you reading?

[Mat]

Apocalypse Codex is cued up next for me, after Slaughterhouse Five which I'm currently reading.

I like Stross, but I'm getting a little tired of his and Doctorow's achingly hipster obsession with singularity post-human sci-fi. I'm looking forward to Apocalypse Codex precisely because it isn't that genre.

To be fair, Charlie's a lot less hipster than Doctorow, who is seemingly obsessed with how great and worldly-wise he is. I agree with a lot of the stuff Doctorow writes about and a lot of his views regarding DRM and human rights in the digital age, but he doesn't need to be such a fucking Nathan Barley about it. He's beginning to sound like a broken record to me, one with a massive superiority complex.
Charlie on the other hand at least seems to have a grounding in reality and some awareness of just how ridiculous things can be.

Slaughterhouse Five however is utterly fantastic, on a par with Catch 22 as an anti-war statement and satire. I'm definitely going to have to read some more Vonnegut after this.
I'm not sure why it gets branded as Sci-Fi mind you. The "Time Travel" element strikes me as a pretty obvious mechanism for character exposition and itself a symptom of the damage done to the main character's psyche by his exposure to the events of his life.

[ShadowTail]

pretty obvious mechanism for character exposition and itself a symptom of the damage done to the main character's psyche by his exposure to the events of his life.

Has it got any shagging in it?

[F-ZeroOne]

Rule One of Liking-Something-So-It-Can't-Be-Sci-Fi: it has bonking in it.

[Mat]

Yup, Slaughterhouse Five has shagging in. Tame shagging, but shagging all the same. Enough to get it censored apparently and banned from the reading syllabus in some states (along with acknowledging that homosexuals were persecuted by the Nazis too).

[Jonesey]

Heh - look what's back. And it's a topical zombie story to boot.



Amazon.co.uk

[Darkflame]

, and with simplified combat and gameplay, this is a Fighting Fantasy gamebook for the 21st century.

are, yes the 21st Century where we all need stuff simplified

Still, nice too see a new one.
My The Citadel of Chaos is holding itself together by a thread these days.

[mrsmr2]

Bet it's not as good as House of Hell.

[VNVObit]

Finished Stross's Apocalypse Codex

Really enjoy Laundry File books and this was no exception now staring at the to read pile wondering what to pick up

[supermario]

Just started Peter F. Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" trilogy - see yous in about 2 years......

[toxibunny]

Vonnegut is awesome. Bluebeard, Galapagos, Something Something Mister Rosewater... Sirens of Titan was good in a very hitchhiker's guide type of way... Galapagos is probably my favourite.

[F-ZeroOne]

Just finished John Scalzis "Redshirts" (from Forbidden Planet in London). Its fun but boy, does it get a bit "meta" by the end...!

[benedictw]

Feed (Mira Grant). Post apocalypse civilisation, news bloggers and Zombies.

[NorthWay]

"The rise and fall of Commodore"

Had it on my shelf for 5-odd years before I in a sudden stint of "what do I have to read _now_" and a nostalgia rush made me pick it up. Great stuff! Some real characters who worked there. The follow-up (follow-on?) book will be here RSN http://www.yakyak.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=83213

[Mat]

Just finished Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis, book one of the Milkweed Triptych. It's an alternate history novel about World War 2, where the Nazis manage to create some psychic super-soldiers, and the UK fights back with Crowley-esque warlocks. Great fun.

[Mark]

Just finished Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis, book one of the Milkweed Triptych. It's an alternate history novel about World War 2, where the Nazis manage to create some psychic super-soldiers, and the UK fights back with Crowley-esque warlocks. Great fun.

Sold! Sounds like a perfect change of pace to follow on from my current read, which is Ulysses. I knew very little about it before starting, other than it's meant to be a little challenging, but I'm bloody loving it so far. Very little's happened but I just love the use of language, with lots of squashedtogether words and train of thought style rambly musings. It probably helps that I'm reading it in the voice of Michael Gambon's bad guy from the film Open Range, which fits it perfectly. I'd have hated this a few years ago I reckon, though.

As to Vonnegut, I haven't read that many, but Sirens of Titan is one of my absolute favourite books, so that would be my recommendation.