What are you reading?

[Cotillion]

Thanks. There is a four-novel collection available at the local library that includes Warlock and Shane (which I just started a couple evenings ago). I'm going to pick it up today for the trip. Reading Westerns in the Caribbean...

Awesome, let me know what you think. It's one of my favorites. Shane was one of my dad's favorites.

 

[romafan]

Thanks. There is a four-novel collection available at the local library that includes Warlock and Shane (which I just started a couple evenings ago). I'm going to pick it up today for the trip. Reading Westerns in the Caribbean...

Have you read Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove series? Picked them up last summer (never saw TV version) and thoroughly enjoyed - good stuff!

 

[Joffrey]

Gotcha. I know there are fast readers, I'm not one. I DO like to have a novel and a nonfiction book going at the same time, but I'm not good about sticking to that rule.

Right now I'm reading The Last Days of Disco by Whit Stillman. It's been years since I watched the movie and the book is 'essentially' his novelization of the film. But, it's very cleverly done-- its not just a straight fiction using the movie as an outline--it kinda breaks the fourth wall and the author (not Stillman, one of the characters) speaks directly to the reader. It's enjoyable if you like Stillman films.

I was browsing through my Amazon Shopping List and forgot I had this as a planned purchase for a good while (years). I ordered for pick up from a local store.

 

[FreshSalmon]

Finally started Hyperion based on a few raving recommendations

 

[Kaplan]

^ I recently bought that as well (the larger trade paperback took some time to track down). It's in the upper half of my TBR list of 40+ newly acquired SF books.

Finished these since last posting:

Edgar Rice Burroughs: A Princess of Mars (1912). ERB's first novel. Pulpy, from when the genre was called 'Planetary Romance', before it got its Science Fiction moniker. Influential, especially on Star Wars ('Padwan', clantily clad princess chained before oversized, grotesque alien, sword fighting and spaceships flying low over desserts). Easily read in a day.

Isaac Asimov: Foundation and Empire (1952) and Second Foundation (1953). This rounds out the original trilogy. Despite the release dates of the novels, these were written and initially released as short stories in the 40s, putting them in the Golden Age of SF (ca 1938-46). Even though the first of these (Foundation 1951) was the most disjointed I still liked it the most, due to the ideas it introduced.

Asimov was maybe the most prolific writer in SF: "Over a space of 40 years, I published an average of 1,000 words a day. Over the space of the second 20 years, I published an average of 1,700 words a day."

John W. Campbell: Who Goes There? (1938). This awesome short story by one of the most important editors in SF, from the time when it was published in magazines, was turned into the movie The Thing from Another World in 1951 and later, in 1982, to the fantastic The Thing by John Carpenter. Read it here.

Alfred Bester: The Stars My destination (1956). Just finished this: Spectacular; takes a place in my top 5 SF read so far. See William Gibson's thoughts on it here (no spoilers).

 

[ValidusLA]

I’m reading Shōgun again. It’s a long-ass book but to me there are no superfluous passages, which results in one of the most immersive stories I’ve ever read.

So freaking good. Read for the second time last Jan.

 

[ValidusLA]

So far read this year:

Samantha Cole: How Sex Changed the Internet and the Internet Changed Sex. (2022) Read on a rec, interesting, not sure I agree w/ all of it, but worth a read.

Pierce Brown: Morning Star. (2016) - Part 3 or his trilogy which is basically what would happen if a Michael Bay movie was made into sci-fi.

Brandon Sanderson: Tress of the Emerald Sea. (2023). Cute little fantasy book. Light.

Peter Zeihan: The End of the World is Just the Beginning. (2022) Doomer econ.

Brandon Sanderson: Way of Kings (2010), Words of Radiance (2014) and Oathbringer (2017) - rereads gearing up to read book 4 which I haven't read yet. Great high fantasy series.

Miyamoto Mushashi: The Book of Five Rings. (c. 1645)

Bruce Gilley: The Last Imperialist. (2021) Definitely not popular history.

Alex Kerr: Lost Japan (1993). Really beautiful book. Would heavily recommmend.

Jonathan Clements: The Samurai (2018). Overview history. Read his Japanese overview last year, and was finishing up some Japan themed reading before visiting.

Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy: The Men Who Lost America (2013). Revolution from the point of view of the men in charge of the British government/army/navy. Quite interesting.

 

[Oswald Cornelius]

I was browsing through my Amazon Shopping List and forgot I had this as a planned purchase for a good while (years). I ordered for pick up from a local store.

Oh, man. I've not read it. I saw the documentary of it where Evans reads from his book with some great archival footage. Graydon Carter was involved in the production. And the limited series "The Offer" is a really good watch. The guy who plays Evans is great, I thoroughly enjoyed it. May have to pick it up.

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

Picked this up last night…

 

[SixOhNine]

Pierce Brown: Morning Star. (2016) - Part 3 or his trilogy which is basically what would happen if a Michael Bay movie was made into sci-sci-fi

I read the first two and thought they were OK. I started this one and pushed it off to the side because I just wasn't feeling it. Isn't the series up to 5 books now?

 

[ValidusLA]

I read the first two and thought they were OK. I started this one and pushed it off to the side because I just wasn't feeling it. Isn't the series up to 5 books now?

I think so? It's wildly mindless. Some fun action at least.

 

[NakedYoga]

Have you read Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove series? Picked them up last summer (never saw TV version) and thoroughly enjoyed - good stuff!

I haven't, but I've considered picking it up after I'm finished with some of these others. They're all pretty lengthy and dense, right?

 

[SixOhNine]

I dunno about the others but Lonesome Dove is a brick. And I'm probably the only person on the planet that thought it sucked. Here's my summary- everyone is unhappy, no one talks to anyone else, then they all die.

 

[edinatlanta]

I dunno about the others but Lonesome Dove is a brick. And I'm probably the only person on the planet that thought it sucked. Here's my summary- everyone is unhappy, no one talks to anyone else, then they all die.

So... it is like real life

 

[SixOhNine]

So... it is like real life

Only once you're married.