what are you reading?

[Portland]

As is was on Kindle daily deals and my ancient paperback can basically be shuffled now, I'm re-doing Magician by Raymond E Feist. Seems to be years since I've read it, suppose I should nab Silverthorn and Darkness at Sethanon too.

Only about a quarter in, and there's not much Tsurani going on yet, but it just doesn't seem as good as I remember somehow. Hope it takes off...

[Mark]

As is was on Kindle daily deals and my ancient paperback can basically be shuffled now, I'm re-doing Magician by Raymond E Feist. Seems to be years since I've read it, suppose I should nab Silverthorn and Darkness at Sethanon too.

Only about a quarter in, and there's not much Tsurani going on yet, but it just doesn't seem as good as I remember somehow. Hope it takes off...

I tried reading it for the first time about 10 years ago - absolutely hated it. I found it the most contrived and cliched thing I think I'd ever read, and gave up about a third of the way through. I was really disappointed having heard great things about it, and have a few friends who really rate it. I guess reading it fairly late on did it no favours - I'd read an awful lot of great fantasy by the time I got to it, so it had a lot to live up to - and in that first few hundred pages it never got close. (I understand it's meant to get a lot better later when things get shaken up (this Tsurani you mention, I guess...), but after 300 plus pages I felt I'd given it a fair pop and gave up).

The worst thing for me was that I found it so predictable - I felt practically clairvoyant with some of the stuff that happened. From memory, the story is an unloved (orphan?) child who everyone calls something derogatory (Pug?) who discovers he's got a bit of magic in him, and soon starts shaping up to be the most powerful magician around, gains a new name and some measure of respect, then quickly ends up going on an epic quest etc.

Coincidentally, I'm currently reading Ursula Le Guin's A Wizard Of Earthsea for the first time, and that brought back bad memories of Magician. The main character is an unloved child called Duny who finds he has a bit of magic in him, and soon starts shaping up to be the most powerful magician around, gains a new name and some measure of respect etc. That's as far as I've got so far. I'm getting on with it better than Magician, not least because it's massively shorter, but also a fair bit less predictable (the main character's very easy to dislike thus far though). However, I hate a lot of the names used in the book (they sound badly made-up). Worse still some are ambiguously pronounced. The main character's original name for example - Duny - is that "Doony", "Dune-y", or "Dunny"? Not a clue. Happily, he finds his true name shortly in to the book, so that's not so important.

Except his true name turns out to be Ged. *sigh* Every time I read it I have a minor "Jed/Ged?" cringe behind my right temple as I try to decide which one I think is intended.

[Portland]

[Deckard]

Reading two rather good sci-fi books, one a rather fun odd super powered group of teenagers in modern times called Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld and the other involves "hard" theoretical physics, alcoholism, the slit experiment and the discovery of the soul which is a real page turner called The Flicker Men by Ted Kosmatka

[merman]

Aussie Grit by Mark Webber

An honest and fascinating look at Mark's racing career, from a little town in Australia to the top of the F1 podium. And yes, it talks about Multi 21, Vettel and the accident at Valencia where he was launched into the air.

[Mat]

Getting towards the end of "Fledgling", Octavia Butler's last book, and the first of hers I've read. Good stuff, raising interesting questions of race, people as property and sexual politics, all disguised as a vampire novel. I think I'll definitely look in to reading more of her books.

Prior to that, I ripped through Chuck Palahniuk's "Beautiful You", which I thoroughly enjoyed, and I love how he takes the bizarre and convincingly makes it the everyday. I had some problems with some aspects of his portrayal of women and pleasure addiction, but otherwise a good, thought-provoking book.

I know he was intending to write three science fiction books, and I think this is his second. It's definitely sci-fi, but not as we know it

[Portland]

Hopefully people are aware, but just in case, if you've got an older Kindle, give it an update, as if you've got old firmware on, there's a risk of it getting locked out from further downloads soon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/custom ... =201994710

[Mat]

Between fiction, I've been pecking away at "Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies" by the philosopher Nick Bostrom.

It's an interesting read, and obviously written by a very intelligent man, but I think I'm beginning to spot a flaw in all of his suppositions about the inevitability of machine superintelligence. I may simply not have read enough of the book yet, so he may very well address this point, but so far none of his ideas have factored in physical agency and the access to necessary resources such agency affords.

What do I mean by that? Well, an artificial intelligence is limited by the capability of the system it's running on. Without any means of interacting with the physical world autonomously, it won't be able to expand beyond that system's capabilities. An AI's ability to expand is bottle-necked by the willingness of its creators to help it do so.

Still, it's an interesting and thought-provoking read, if a bit reference heavy (making it not brilliant for reading on eInk devices).

[gumboot]

It's true that for the most part you still need humans to move stuff about and plug stuff in, but as any pen tester knows: usually all your have to do is ask.

Seriously. People do so much stuff simply because they read something on a screen.

[NorthWay]

Slew of Kickstarter releases (and one not) since last update:
US Gold book. Recommended.
C= 64 in pixels. Less pixels than I had expected, but not bad.
Generation 64. The original one in Swedish. Take a look at it before buying if you can. A bit ...less tech and more feelings?
The masters of pixel art (vol 1). Too bad it doesn't use shots from a crt. Also, at times it feels like one big bromance - there is no end to how these pixel pushers were admiring each other. It has a few things I thought was obviously missing, but one can hope that is redeemed in a vol 2. Most of the artists wouldn't be seen dead with a primary colour in their palette... Still, not bad.

Bonus reading related fact: Horror upon horrors, damn Tom Cruise is gonna make a joke of Jack Reacher once more this summer. At least the book was good (if they stick to it).

[zip accident]

Bonus reading related fact: Horror upon horrors, damn Tom Cruise is gonna make a joke of Jack Reacher once more this summer. At least the book was good (if they stick to it).

Tom Cruise is six feet four inches tall? could have fooled me.

[Deckard]

Currently reading Fireman by Stephen King's son which is rather good, about a transmittable disease called Dragonscale which eventually makes you burn up in flames and the communities trying to survive it. The Shining Girls which is about a time travelling serial killer and is deeply unpleasant but good and best of all - Company Man by Madelaine Ashby about, long breath, body augmentation, AI singularities, invisible serial killers and people who change the moods of cities by tweaking the traffic lights or how long the lift doors stay open.... its truly excellent. Oh and in between I read Sue Perkins and Burt Reynolds autobiographies, dull bar Burt talking about Deliverance and being best friends with Bette Davis which I thought was a surprise.

[Mat]

Oo, Company Man sounds interesting, will have to give that a shot.
Thanks Deckard!
Edit: Any hints on where to get it? Just had a search with Calibre's "Get Books" functionality, and nothing is coming up.

Myself, just finished the second of Robin Hobbe's new "Assassin" trilogy, which was pretty good, and certainly delivered a lot for the cash. Just have to wait 'til next year for the finale now.

I'm getting near the end of Charlie Stross' "The Nightmare Stacks", which is jolly good Laundry fun, albeit from another character's perspective, much like "The Armageddon Score".
However, it explores some of the same themes as Pratchett's "Lords and Ladies", and is dedicated to Pterry; unfortunately, while Stross is a very capable writer with some fantastic ideas, he's nowhere near as funny as Pratchett, and he's definitely trying too hard at some points. Still, a good supernatural/sci-fi romp that's well worth picking up (although I'd advise waiting for the price to drop; it's only ~350 pages).

I've got Richard Kadrey's "The Perdition Score" lined up next, book 8 of his Sandman Slim stories.
Looking forward to it, although unfortunately for Kadrey, while I like his books, I've also read David Wong's "John Dies at the End" and "This Book is Full of Spiders: Seriously Dude, don't Touch it", which also do urban gonzo supernatural, but do it so much better.

[zip accident]

Started:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/187 ... UTF8&psc=1



Somehow doesn't seem relevant any more.

Also:



https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/184 ... UTF8&psc=1

Bomb aimer joins up in '44, flies over germany, gets shot at, doesn't like it. Short book, but I've not done it justice.

[oktup]

Recently read Sagittarius Rising: fascinating first-hand account by WWI pilot Cecil Arthur Lewis - not what you might imagine. Bonus interview.

Currently reading A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller Jr. Having previously read and absolutely loved Ridley Walker by Russel Hoban I am hoping this is half as enjoyable.