Books 2nd Edition, Foreword by m0r1arty Options

[maian]

I might read JPod sooner than I originally intended since, having read the plot synopsis, it looks like it might bear more than a casual resemblance to my place of work.

[Julie]

No, I've not read any of his books.

I'd recommend you read Microserfs first, if you can. It's not that Jpod is a sequel, exactly. But there are elements of the writing that will make more sense if you read Microserfs first. As well, it's a fantastic book on it's own. I find it particularly interesting to read something that was really written at the dawn of the internet age and to see where everyone postulated computer science would take us in the future, namely now.

[maian]

Because it's a waifer-theen novel (or is it a novella? Is there a particular page limit for novels/novellas? I mean, The Mist is a novella and it's longer than, anyway...) I managed to finish Amsterdam in one day, and my, my, was it good. I'm glad I didn't actually know anything about it before reading it since the whole thing took me by surprise; a deliciously dark book, meticulously constructed so that events and decisions of the two principal characters slowly converge and intertwine, creating a terrible trap for them forged of their own bastardliness. A quite brilliant story, is McEwan capable of delivering a bad one?

[rabbit57i]

Strange Piece of Paradise by Terri Jentz

The most incredible book I have read. Fascinating true story of the author's near murder & her search for herself and the culprit 15 years down the line. I'm not terribly good at description so I've stolen this description from someone else:

"Start this book & you won't stop. Memoir, detective story, travelogue, time capsule, horror movie come to life (and swinging a hatchet), obsessive manhunt, a tale of American innocence dashed and left for dead - Terri Jentz's Strange Piece of Paradise has the narcotic force of a nightmare that won't let go its grip until the truth is found and set free. In synopsis, SPoP sound like pulp fiction: 1977, two Yale students - hopeful & buoyant - embark upon a bike trip across the country's 'most scenic blue roads' only to be brutally attacked at a campsite by a psycho stranger in cowboy boots who drives off into the desert night. But the story is true, the locations real, the scars left on the author's body bearing the track marks of her trauma. As if to perform reconstructive surgery on her psyche (to reconcile the adventurous young woman she was with the 'scarecrow self' that has haunted her since), Jentz returns to the scene of the crime to conduct an epic investigation as shadowed in grief and as stricken by violence as Truman Capote's Kansas in In Cold Blood."

[rabbit57i]

The Mist by Stephen King

I caught a trailer of for the film while watching Monster HD. It looked pretty scary, but since films based on Stephen King stories tend to be shit, I decided to read the book. I finally get the book from the library and see that it's a tiny little thing. It was a novella originally published in Skeleton Crew. I didn't know that! I've already read this. But it's okay, but I don't even remember reading it, much less what happens.

I have to say that this is pretty damn scary! Very tension-filled and pretty gory at points. My only quibble is at the end. He ends up in a hotel but where is everyone? This thing came on pretty quick, so there would be people in there like there was in the supermarket. Where did they go? Also why would the gas pump be locked? I'm sure no one had the mind to lock it...they wouldn't have had the time

[Raven]

I'd recommend you read Microserfs first, if you can.

And I've just bought it.

On YOUR recommendation.

It had better be good missy . . .

[maian]

The Mist by Stephen King

I caught a trailer of for the film while watching Monster HD. It looked pretty scary, but since films based on Stephen King stories tend to be shit, I decided to read the book. I finally get the book from the library and see that it's a tiny little thing. It was a novella originally published in Skeleton Crew. I didn't know that! I've already read this. But it's okay, but I don't even remember reading it, much less what happens.

I have to say that this is pretty damn scary! Very tension-filled and pretty gory at points. My only quibble is at the end. He ends up in a hotel but where is everyone? This thing came on pretty quick, so there would be people in there like there was in the supermarket. Where did they go? Also why would the gas pump be locked? I'm sure no one had the mind to lock it...they wouldn't have had the time

Skeleton Crew is on my to read list so I'm not going to read the spoilers. However, I have heard that the end is a bit weak and you'll be interested to know that the film has a different ending which, according to a lot of reviews, is superior to that of the novella.

I also wouldn't agree that movies based on Stephen King stories tend to be shit. I subscribe to Mark Kermode's theory that movies based on Stephen King novels tend to be shit, with the notable exceptions of The Shining, Carrie and The Green Mile, but that movies based on his short stories and novellas (Stand By Me, Shawshank Redemption, Apt Pupil, all of Different Seasons, basically) tend to be good.

This post has been edited by maian: Jan 18 2008, 08:21 PM

[PrincessKate]

Simultaneously reading and listening to Alan Bennett's Talking Heads 1 & 2, which are brilliant, obviously.

[rabbit57i]

Skeleton Crew is on my to read list so I'm not going to read the spoilers. However, I have heard that the end is a bit weak and you'll be interested to know that the film has a different ending which, according to a lot of reviews, is superior to that of the novella.

It's not the ending itself I have a problem with, just a couple things that are brought up or occur during it.

[Julie]

And I've just bought it.

On YOUR recommendation.

It had better be good missy . . .

It won't let you down, I just finished again. Lovely, lovely stuff.

[SkipToTheEnd]

Simultaneously reading and listening to Alan Bennett's Talking Heads 1 & 2, which are brilliant, obviously.

They are, arent they. i love the way the people seem normal but then the cracks gradually start to show...

[maian]

After it was mentioned twice here in the space of a week, usually a good recommendation, I'm reading Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh and I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far.

I've also gone back to reading Don Quixote and it's just fantastic.

[Jubei]

Has anyone read anything by Kevin J Anderson? I picked up the first of his Saga of the Seven Suns series because it was covered in praise and it was a big and I fancy getting stuck into a long space opera type tying again. Unfortunately it's rubbish. The books are thick, sure. But that's because it's double line spaced and only uses 2/3rds of the page. It reads like a summary. I can't put my finger on why but the way it's written doesn't suck you in, it just seems to skim the surface of the story. Anyway, a total waste. I'll read a few more chapters, but I cab see myself giving up on this one.

Can anyone recommend a good Sci-Fi series that'll keep me going. Something space opera and hard sci-fi. Something in the vein of Nights Dawn, Commonwealth Saga, Revelation Space. Is there anything else?

[Chapman Baxter]

Has anyone read anything by Kevin J Anderson?

I haven't read anything but have heard from many sources that his Dune prequels are appalling.

Can anyone recommend a good Sci-Fi series that'll keep me going.  Something space opera and hard sci-fi.  Something in the vein of Nights Dawn, Commonwealth Saga, Revelation Space.  Is there anything else?

Hmmm. I'd strongly recommend Vernor Vinge's A Fire upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky. You could also try Dan Simmons's Hyperion and David Zindell's Neverness, and their sequels. I quite like Neal Ashers' Polity novels.

Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan books aren't quite what you've asked for but are very good.

[Jubei]

You could also try Dan Simmons's Hyperion

I've read the Hyperion/Endymion series and thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought Illium/Olympos were even better though. I'll look into some of those other ones though, thanks.