While Meville could be extremely verbose and long-winded at times (dude loves him some semicolons), it was still enjoyable overall and I am glad I read it.
Plus, now I can lord it over people if I feel like being a dick. (Which I so often do.)
Last Few Reads
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 Mohr Stoutbeard |
#181 | |||
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Posts: 1200 08/09/08 11:12 PM Administrator |
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OGRE3000 |
#182 | |||
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Posts: 2780 08/15/08 12:57 AM Registered User |
Too funny. I found a copy of it at the library for like a quarter. I still haven't tried again. I feel ashamed...
But, anyway, I just finished "The Last Colony" by John Scalzi, pretty damned good. John Perry and Jane return from the first book, along with Zoe from the 2nd, "The Ghost Brigades". The three are sent on a mission to make a new, hidden colony called Roanoke. Welp, there's a lot of twists and turns and it took me only a couple of days (I work full-time now) to read it. And the funny thing was there's an afterward about Scalzi finishing up on that universe for a while and then (I guess new to the pb version) is an add for the next book, "Zoe's Story". That was quick... |
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OGRE3000 |
#183 | |||
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Posts: 2796 09/11/08 2:20 AM Registered User |
Finished "The Surrogate Assassin" by Christopher Leppek right after Dragon*Con. Pretty good. It's a Sherlock Holmes pastiche that starts with
Holmes trying to solve the mystery of who is trying to kill the actor, Edwin Booth, which eventually leads to the investigation of the Lincoln Assassination.
Plenty of twists and turns and I love Watson's view of America (it's 16 years since the assasssination) from thinking of it as a wilderness with
savages to a burgeoning, progressive country that was starting to outpace Britian. And it's pretty good on the Lincoln/Booth history and the various
conspiracies and such. Worth the read...
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OGRE3000 |
#184 | |||
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Posts: 2800 09/18/08 1:19 AM Registered User |
Finished "Leather Maiden", a horror/suspense by Joe R. Lansdale of Bubba Ho-Tep fame. Welp, it starts out as a typical Lansdale story, a washed-up
reporter, Cason Statler, returning to his roots in his hometown of Camp Rapture, Texas. He gets a job on the local rag but writing a features column ends up in
a serious mystery: The disappearance of a girl named Caroline, a beautiful high school student. Well, soon it all goes into the darkness with murder,
kidnapping, blackmail and weird strange mystery. I think I read it in two nights. A really good read, I couldn't put it down and hated to go to work and of
course read it on my lunch hour. Best book he's written since the last "Hap and Leonard" novel...
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OGRE3000 |
#185 | |||
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Posts: 2805 09/24/08 3:46 PM Registered User |
Just completed the first of the "The Codex of Alera" series, 'Furies of Calderon' by Jim Butcher. Welp, to say I was impressed or enjoyed,
well, here's a stunner, I think I enjoyed just as much as "The Dresden Files", if not more! The story is about a struggle for power in a
Roman-like empire, with rebels and various forms of 'wild men' or tribes threatening the borders. The main character is Tavi, who is unique, since he
has no powers. Everyone has a power, they are able to harness a force called 'furies'. Almost like a demon force made of air, water, earth and fire
which also extends to plants and animals to various degrees. Welp, it's really good, loads of action, adventure, romance, death-defying, villainy and edge
of the seat suspense. The funny thing is, a few times I was reminded of how ERB would have a cliffhanger to one set of characters, go back to the others and
jumping back and forth between the cliffhangers. I'm definately getting the rest of the series and soon!
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ecgordon |
#186 | |||
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Posts: 4899 09/25/08 4:52 AM Star's Hero |
I wish I could say I am liking my latest book, but alas it is starting out extremely slow. I won't say which book yet as I do intend to finish it since it
is a collaboration by two of my favorites. Hopefully it will pick up soon and I can give it a good report.
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OGRE3000 |
#187 | |||
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Posts: 2813 10/03/08 3:34 AM Registered User |
Finished a night or so back, "No Country For Old Men" by Cormac Mccarthy. I didn't see the movie yet and wanted to read the novel first. I
enjoyed it and it was some damned powerful writing. A few of my friends said the movie was great to a point and then it was like the story just stopped and you
never find out what happened to all the characters. Well, guess I'll have to see. But the book probably gave more closure, perhaps. Anyway, it's a
really fine book, my only real complaint is it's written in that new style I guess, where the author uses almost no punctuation unless he has to and
it's hard to tell who's talking during conversations. But the observations by Sheriff Bell on life and the world are fantastic. Worth reading.
Jury's still out on if the movie did the book justice...
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OGRE3000 |
#188 | |||
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Posts: 2816 10/10/08 2:04 AM Registered User |
Found and read an excellent Victorian Era mystery, "Some Danger Involved" by Will Thomas. It's a story told by Thomas Llewelyn, a down on his
luck Welshman who sees an advert for a job that contains the book's title. He applies to one Cyrus Barker, an "enquiry agent" with many quirks
and gets the position that leads to action, adventure and lots of the 'some danger involved'. The mystery revolves around the murder of a Jewish
student and a fascinating look into the Jewish community during that time period. Welp, as a big Holmes (and many detectives of that era) I really enjoyed this
book. There's also a couple of sequels that I already got and have started the 2nd one, "To Kingdom Come" last night...
Last Edited By: OGRE3000 10/12/08 1:58 AM.
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ecgordon |
#189 | |||
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Posts: 4929 10/11/08 9:40 AM Star's Hero |
I've set aside the book I've been laboring with and started another last night, which is definitely better so far. I also finally found a reasonably
priced copy of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men and it will likely be my next after that, then I might get back to that unnamed collaboration, in
hopes it will pick up.
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ecgordon |
#190 | |||
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Posts: 4933 10/16/08 7:51 AM Star's Hero |
Marsbound by Joe Haldeman. Hard to say right now what my opinion is. I liked it enough to finish, which is different than for several others
I've tried recently. Totally unlike anything else I've read by him, and there were times I felt it was not so much Haldeman channeling Heinlein, but
rather Haldeman channeling Varley channeling Gerrold channeling Heinlein. With just a few exceptions, everything he's written has been stand alone novels,
and as I got closer and closer to the end of this one I couldn't figure out how he was going to wrap up the story sufficiently to make it another one of
those or whether it would turn out to need a sequel. It could go either way.
I won't give away any of the plot except to say that the title has a double meaning. In the beginning, the protagonist tells the story of a journey to Mars (bound for Mars), but later events dictate that those pioneers are fated to never return to Earth (bound to Mars). |
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OGRE3000 |
#191 | |||
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Posts: 2821 10/22/08 2:46 AM Registered User |
Finished "To Kingdom Come" last week. The 2nd book in the Cyrus Barker/Thomas Llewelyn series by Will Thomas is about him and his Watson, (Llewelyn)
vs. the Irish Dynamiters of that time. After an attack on Scotland Yard, Barker and Llewelyn go under cover as an infamous German anarchist and his assitant.
Welp, it's really good, some place between Holmes and Sgt. Cribb. I've already got the next 2 books coming, "The Black Hand" and "The
Hellfire Club Conspiracy"...
Last Edited By: OGRE3000 10/22/08 2:49 AM.
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Kez Maefele |
#192 | |||
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Posts: 21 10/31/08 12:00 AM |
I read Debatable Space by Phillip Palmer. His first SF book, I guess he was a script writer before. The book is partially about some space pirates who kidnap
the mom of the universe's emperor to fight a revolution against him. It sounds better than it is. Among other things that bugged me, Palmer uses typography
tricks to illustrate the action. Very lame. This book received an "A" rating from SciFi Weekly. Maybe a C.
The Sky People by S.M. Stirling. Venus and Mars have jungles, dinosaurs, barbarians, and other E.R. Burroughs type things.. Earth has colonies but very not a lot of infrastructure because of the cost of transport. Moderate pulp action ensues. A diversion but not much more. B- Sharpe's Siege, Bernard Cornwell. A great way to erase those other two disappointments. Richard Sharpe is always great. B+ |
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OGRE3000 |
#193 | |||
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Posts: 2824 11/01/08 2:12 AM Registered User |
Finished the 3rd Will Thomas book about Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn, really good. Called "The Limehouse Text", it's about murder, assassins
and mysterious deaths atributed to secret methods of "Chinese boxing". A book that has deadly secrets stolen from a monastery in China turns up in
London. So, Barker and Llewelyn must recover it, racing against Her Majesty's Government, the Triads and the London underworld. Another fascinating read.
Already have the next 2 ordered...
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 Ari Richards |
#194 | |||
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Posts: 124 11/03/08 10:30 PM |
I have had this book since I was about 11 years old, I loved the cover, it was my parents and i nabbed it off the shelf, now, 24 years later I decided to read
it.
OH my I have never read anything like it. Ill show you the cover, and the Bio of a writer many of you will know, and a sample page that I found very interesting I recommend to anyone interested in very original fiction. 
Wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deathbird_Stories heres the questions in easier to read form: 1. Melville's Moby Dick begins, "Call me Ishmael." We say it is told in the first person. In what person is Genesis told? From whose viewpoint? 2. Who is the "good guy" in this story? Who is the "bad guy"? Can you make a strong case for reversal of the roles? 3. Traditionally, the apple is considered to be the fruit the serpent offered to Eve. But apples are not endemic to the Near East. Select one of the following, more logical substitutes, and discuss how myths come into being and are corrupted over long periods of time: olive, fig, date, pomegranate. 4. Why is the word LORD always in capitals and the name God always capitalized? Shouldn't the serpent's name be capitalized, as well? If no, why? 5. If God created everything (see Genesis, Chap. I), why did he create problems for himself by creating a serpent who would lead his creations astray? Why did God create a tree he did not want Adam and Eve to know about, and then go out of his way to warn them against it? 6. Compare and contrast Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling panel of the Expulsion from Paradise with Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights. 7. Was Adam being a gentleman when he placed blame on Eve? Who was Quisling? Discuss "narking" as a character flaw. 8. God grew angry when he found out he had been defied. If God is omnipotent and omniscient, didn't he know? Why couldn't he find Adam and Eve when they hid? 9. If God had not wanted Adam and Eve to taste the fruit of the forbidden tree, why didn't he warn the serpent? Could God have prevented the serpent from tempting Adam and Eve? If yes, why didn't he? If no, discuss the possibility the serpent was as powerful as God. 10. Using examples from two different media journals demonstrate the concept of "slanted news." Ari |
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OGRE3000 |
#195 | |||
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Posts: 2831 11/14/08 1:42 AM Registered User |
Finished all the Barker and Llewelyn books apparently, dammit! I didn't know there were only 5! Anyway, I read "The Hellfire Conspiracy" and
"The Black Hand" both of course, by Will Thomas. The first is a case involving murdered young girls. And of course, The Hellfire Club, the nefarious
club of "gentlemen" that committed all acts of infamy in the Victorian (and earlier) Era. The 2nd is the two vs. the Mafia that was threatening
English shores by taking over the underworld. Both are just as fantastic as the rest of the series and I just wish I had known there weren't more, I would
have made them last!
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OGRE3000 |
#196 | |||
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Posts: 2834 11/22/08 3:23 AM Registered User |
Finished "The Wolfman" by Nicholas Pekearo a day or so back. It was fairly good, kind of overshadowed by depression, it's the author's debut
and last book. In a foreward, the editor tells us Pekearo's story, he was an unarmed volunteer policeman (who also worked at a bookstore) who was killed
with his partner while on patrol in NYC by a crazied gunman. And the book, while a very different take on werewolves, is sad too, while the 'hero' of
the book, Marlowe Higgins, has managed to turn his curse into a form of justice, he lives with guilt and the memories of his victims on his soul. And while
keeping a low profile in a small town in Tennessee, a serial killer comes to the area, threatening to expose his secrets. Welp, I enjoyed it, it really got
rolling only bogging down a bit towards the end. It's a shame that Perkearo couldn't have the chance to hone his craft and improve on his tales. R.I.P.
Nick...
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Mohr Stoutbeard |
Oh my golly does Ayn Rand like to talk a lot. | #197 | ||
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Posts: 1205 12/09/08 9:29 PM Administrator |
I finally finished "Atlas Shrugged". At 1070 pages (including an approximately 50 page monologue near the end), it certainly takes a commitment. I
don't agree with every part of Rand's philosophy, but it is definitely thought-provoking, and while a good portion of the book is devoted to her
ideology, there is sufficient plot to go along and the action of the book can be quite gripping.
It is certainly an interesting read in these troubled economic times.
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OGRE3000 |
#198 | |||
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Posts: 2842 12/10/08 4:20 AM Registered User |
Holy crap, I have a copy but have failed to tackle that yet. I loved how in high school all the jocks picked "Anthem" since it was a dinky lil'
thang and failed to understand it completely if at all. One of these days I'm going to have to go back and take that challenge.
Oh, while I am here and still up (after 5am, ggaawwd) I am reading "The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft" by S.T. Joshi. It's of course, good ol' HPL but now I know what somethings are that I just kind of went mmhm when I came across some crazy word HPL would use. And of course, the book gives locations, references to homages and history that HPL was using and so on. And Joshi also gives quotes about the stories and ties them into the other mythos in the HPL universe. It's nice to get back there, I had read some of the new pastiches and man did most of them kind of suck... |
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OGRE3000 |
#199 | |||
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Posts: 2846 12/19/08 2:19 AM Registered User |
Put down HPL for a bit and picked up the 2nd book in "The Codex of Alera", "Academ's Fury" by Jim Butcher. All I can say is wow, this
one's better then the first! It's like a year or two later from 'Furies of Calderon" and our hero Tavi is now a Cursor (an agent or spy) for
the First Lord, Gaius. And of course the kingdom of Alera is beset by enemies within and without and civil war is threatening to break out any moment. Welp, it
was a fantastic read, as good if not better then the Harry Dresden series. I already bought the 3rd book and will of course, get 4 and 5 asap...
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Ari Richards |
#200 | |||
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Posts: 126 01/22/09 7:30 PM |
a re-re-re-read but FLESH by P J Farmer, man what a book,
Ari |
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