[Andorion]

D, on 04 July 2014 - 02:27 PM, said:

Andorion, on 04 July 2014 - 04:28 AM, said:

Anybody here read history? Reading Peter Wilson's Europe's Tragedy: A history of the Thirty Years War.

I read quite a bit of history of science as part of my academic interests (recently finished Leviathan and the Air-Pump by Shapin and Schaffer). Also have an interest in colonial/post-colonial history and classical/medieval history. Would really recommend Montaillou (minihistory of one of the last Cathar villages in 14th century Pyreneean France) if you've not come across it already.

Would that be the one by LeRoy Ladurie of the Annales School?

History is basically my career as I am probably going to start a PhD in it anytime now

[Andorion]

amphibian, on 04 July 2014 - 04:54 AM, said:

Hannu Rajaniemi is absolutely recommended if you like cyberpunk/sci fi.

If you're at all familiar with computers, the internet, cryptography and so on, he blends that into a con man action movie fairly well. The second book is where he really gets creative and spices up the writing.

As for history, yes, I read quite a bit of it. However, I've taken a bit of a breather for a while because I was getting depressed reading about how awful people are and still are towards each other in the modern world. I tend to stay away from European history since it's not where I live and in general, the histories of the colonized countries in Asia, Africa and the Americas also tend to bleed over much more and show a much darker/tragic perspective than the histories of Europe bleed into the colonies.

I absolutely love syberpunl scifi. So that just got sent to my TBR pile

[Stormcat]

Rogues

[D'iversify]

Andorion, on 05 July 2014 - 02:53 AM, said:

D, on 04 July 2014 - 02:27 PM, said:

Andorion, on 04 July 2014 - 04:28 AM, said:

Anybody here read history? Reading Peter Wilson's Europe's Tragedy: A history of the Thirty Years War.

I read quite a bit of history of science as part of my academic interests (recently finished Leviathan and the Air-Pump by Shapin and Schaffer). Also have an interest in colonial/post-colonial history and classical/medieval history. Would really recommend Montaillou (minihistory of one of the last Cathar villages in 14th century Pyreneean France) if you've not come across it already.

Would that be the one by LeRoy Ladurie of the Annales School?

That's the one.

[Ukjent]

Done with Shaman's crossing by Robin Hobb, enjoyable, but nothing to run to the store for.

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 04 July 2014 - 02:53 AM, said:

I Am Brian Blessed Not Brent Weeks, on 02 July 2014 - 05:23 PM, said:

Abyss, on 01 July 2014 - 09:45 PM, said:

THE RHESUS CHART by Stross.
CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN MUTHAFUCKAHHHSSSSS...

It's out?

TO THE BOOKSTORE!

Kindle dl. Dunno about dead tree. Strong start. Very psyched.

...

It's great. All my doubts from the last book are vanquished. Stross is a genius and a madman.

Pig Iron, on 04 July 2014 - 09:43 AM, said:

amphibian, on 04 July 2014 - 04:54 AM, said:

Hannu Rajaniemi is absolutely recommended if you like cyberpunk/sci fi.

If you're at all familiar with computers, the internet, cryptography and so on, he blends that into a con man action movie fairly well. The second book is where he really gets creative and spices up the writing.

As for history, yes, I read quite a bit of it. However, I've taken a bit of a breather for a while because I was getting depressed reading about how awful people are and still are towards each other in the modern world. I tend to stay away from European history since it's not where I live and in general, the histories of the colonized countries in Asia, Africa and the Americas also tend to bleed over much more and show a much darker/tragic perspective than the histories of Europe bleed into the colonies.

"The Causal Angel" (Quantum Thief 3) is out on July 17. Seems to be the final part. Good summer.

Psyched for that. Loved bk 2.

[Mentalist]

Finally finished "Emperor of Thorns". I blame long completion on general busyness, and also World Cup.

The finish was strong. But unlike Prince and even more so, King, it wasn't an unput-downable book. Whereas in the first 2 books the big picture clues were scattered and few, the third book started out explaining almost everything. And the twist was so strongly foreshadowed that I recognised what it was going to be around a third of the way into the book, which inevitably spoiled the surprise of the ending.

nonetheless, fairly strong finish. good read, I'll certainly read more.

Next up-first volume of the Mongoliad.

[Andorion]

D, on 05 July 2014 - 03:21 PM, said:

Andorion, on 05 July 2014 - 02:53 AM, said:

D, on 04 July 2014 - 02:27 PM, said:

Andorion, on 04 July 2014 - 04:28 AM, said:

Anybody here read history? Reading Peter Wilson's Europe's Tragedy: A history of the Thirty Years War.

I read quite a bit of history of science as part of my academic interests (recently finished Leviathan and the Air-Pump by Shapin and Schaffer). Also have an interest in colonial/post-colonial history and classical/medieval history. Would really recommend Montaillou (minihistory of one of the last Cathar villages in 14th century Pyreneean France) if you've not come across it already.

Would that be the one by LeRoy Ladurie of the Annales School?

That's the one.

I have not read much stuff be Leroy Ladurie, but a lot by Braudel. Ep Thompson is good though

[QuickTidal]

Finished up TOWER LORD (brilliant, as good as BLOOD SONG if not better).

Tried to read ATROCITY ARCHIVES...err...no...too much tech-speak and office-based boring nonsense.

Onto book 3 of the Flavia De Luce series, Alan Bradley's THE RED HERRING WITHOUT MUSTARD.

[T77]

Finished Against All Things Ending by Steven R. Donaldson. I really liked the first chronicles, but the second and the first two books of the third have been so-so. I have been putting off reading the last two books, but to my surprise I really liked this book. I think it's right up there with TPTP as being my favorite in the series. Everything is coming together, and it even has sort of a Malazan vibe to it. I'm already a third of the way into The Last Dark and am enjoying it so far.

This post has been edited by T77: 07 July 2014 - 04:18 PM

[Macros]

Finished Revelation space.
I liked it but definitely didn't love, does the rest of series run similar in its density and technobabble?

started the grim company but Scoll, left my bloody.bag at work, book is there, was starting to get into the world abit as well.
bah!

[Chance]

Currently going through Word of Radiance, getting more and more irritated by X chapters of other characters between an event begining and resolution in a book this large its nearly like cliffhangers in shorter book series.

Macros, on 07 July 2014 - 07:14 PM, said:

Finished Revelation space.
I liked it but definitely didn't love, does the rest of series run similar in its density and technobabble?

The second one is about the same and I found them pretty decent, the third is a lot worse then the rest (the amount of stupidity in that book was epic) but the amount of technobabble is probably fairly constant.

Macros, on 07 July 2014 - 07:14 PM, said:

started the grim company but Scoll, left my bloody.bag at work, book is there, was starting to get into the world abit as well.
bah!

It is probably nothing to bemoan it is a very poor book, except for possibly the humor factor of attempted ways to break cliches.

This post has been edited by Chance: 07 July 2014 - 08:37 PM

[amphibian]

Macros, on 07 July 2014 - 07:14 PM, said:

Finished Revelation space.
I liked it but definitely didn't love, does the rest of series run similar in its density and technobabble?

Neither of the two potential second books is as dense. Both focus heavily upon the adventures of one person.

In Chasm City, we get a long chase for revenge mixed with flashbacks to explain why the revenge is needed in the first place.

In Redemption Ark, we the readers are slowly introduced to Nevil Clavaine through the experiences of others. He's sort of the Whiskeyjack of the series and makes for a truly sympathetic leader for the rest of the characters.

The thing about Revelation Space series is that you can go with either book as second or third, yet Absolution Gap has to be third or fourth and The Prefect after the main series. The novella of Galactic North must be last of all.

There's not that much technobabble in the rest of the series, yet technology does feature heavily in each of the stories. The first book has the most, so the setting the table is mostly done in that sense.

[polishgenius]

Currently, reading City of Bones by Martha Wells. It's my first book by her and I'm enjoying it immensely so far. I love it when I find an established author I hadn't previously been aware of, especially one who writes outside the areas of traditional fantasy.

Chance, on 07 July 2014 - 08:32 PM, said:

Macros, on 07 July 2014 - 07:14 PM, said:

started the grim company but Scoll, left my bloody.bag at work, book is there, was starting to get into the world abit as well.
bah!

It is probably nothing to bemoan it is a very poor book, except for possibly the humor factor of attempted ways to break cliches.

I like it. It's not groundbreaking, but as far as recent debuts go I liked it a lot more than, say, the much-vaunted Blood Song. The writing's not always smooth, but it has a lot of good ideas presented well.

[Serenity]

QuickTidal, on 06 July 2014 - 08:29 PM, said:

Finished up TOWER LORD (brilliant, as good as BLOOD SONG if not better).

Good to know! It's on my Kindle - don't know when I'll read it yet, as the 4th Master of Rome book is calling to me . . .


I finished my re-read of The Legacy of Heorot, which I first read 25 years ago or so. Great book, especially if you like Aliens-type movies.

Currently reading Abercrombie's Half A King, which is turning out to be very enjoyable in an 'Abercrombie-Lite' kind of way.

[Chance]

polishgenius, on 07 July 2014 - 10:34 PM, said:

Chance, on 07 July 2014 - 08:32 PM, said:

Macros, on 07 July 2014 - 07:14 PM, said:

started the grim company but Scoll, left my bloody.bag at work, book is there, was starting to get into the world abit as well.
bah!

It is probably nothing to bemoan it is a very poor book, except for possibly the humor factor of attempted ways to break cliches.

I like it. It's not groundbreaking, but as far as recent debuts go I liked it a lot more than, say, the much-vaunted Blood Song. The writing's not always smooth, but it has a lot of good ideas presented well.

Books are about ones taste but my perception of it was like someone trying to write Joe Abercrombie style fantasy with more magic and simply not really pulling it of over and over again.

This post has been edited by Chance: 08 July 2014 - 12:49 PM

[Tattersail_]

On a whim I went out to buy a book. I read the last 3 pages of this thread, and decided to start with Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy.

[Tattersail_]

Briar King, on 08 July 2014 - 02:28 PM, said:

Tattersail_, on 08 July 2014 - 01:10 PM, said:

On a whim I went out to buy a book. I read the last 3 pages of this thread, and decided to start with Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy.

I love Fitz books! Enjoy!

Serenity are those Rome books maintaining the awesomeness you said of bk1?

best to read his books, from the first to the last yes? I am always a believer of reading in order of release date, I look at the beginning of a book and then pick the very first book on the list.

[QuickTidal]

Tattersail_, on 08 July 2014 - 02:34 PM, said:

Briar King, on 08 July 2014 - 02:28 PM, said:

Tattersail_, on 08 July 2014 - 01:10 PM, said:

On a whim I went out to buy a book. I read the last 3 pages of this thread, and decided to start with Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy.

I love Fitz books! Enjoy!

best to read his books, from the first to the last yes? I am always a believer of reading in order of release date, I look at the beginning of a book and then pick the very first book on the list.

her books. But yes, read them in order. The first book (ASSASSIN'S APPRENTICE) will always be my favourite...but the rest of the first trilogy is great too...and the second trilogy kind of grows things up a lot which was a nice change of pace and by book 3 of that one I was well engrossed...plus the first book in the new Fitz book comes out in like a month!

[Tattersail_]

QuickTidal, on 08 July 2014 - 02:56 PM, said:

Tattersail_, on 08 July 2014 - 02:34 PM, said:

Briar King, on 08 July 2014 - 02:28 PM, said:

Tattersail_, on 08 July 2014 - 01:10 PM, said:

On a whim I went out to buy a book. I read the last 3 pages of this thread, and decided to start with Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy.

I love Fitz books! Enjoy!

best to read his books, from the first to the last yes? I am always a believer of reading in order of release date, I look at the beginning of a book and then pick the very first book on the list.

her books. But yes, read them in order. The first book (ASSASSIN'S APPRENTICE) will always be my favourite...but the rest of the first trilogy is great too...and the second trilogy kind of grows things up a lot which was a nice change of pace and by book 3 of that one I was well engrossed...plus the first book in the new Fitz book comes out in like a month!

What is this "Fitz"?

I honestly had a moment before where I was telling the wife I had bought a book and in my head thought that the author could be a woman. Would that not be Robyn?

I am glad you pointed it out to me though.