[Malankazooie]

Andy Serkis will embark on a 12 hour reading of the Hobbit on Friday.

Andy Serkis to Give 12-Hour Live Reading of 'The Hobbit' for Health Charities

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There's an ongoing reading of the first Harry Potter book by various celebrity types that has started. Daniel Radcliffe kicks it off with ch. 1

Chapter One: 'The Boy Who Lived' By J.K. Rowling Read by Daniel Radcliffe

[JPK]

I just finished Oathbringer and rather enjoyed it. It definitely wasn't a perfect book, but I do really like this universe and don't even mind Shallan. I really appreciate how broken each of the main characters are, it really helps make them feel much more solid.

Next up I'm hopping into The Apocalypse Codex by Stross.

[Cyphon]

Finished the HOD KING, which was excellent and dare I say better than the arm of the sphinx. The tower's ringdoms are such clever concepts and the pull of cause and effect throughout is excellent.

Onto MIDNIGHT TIDES for the reread now. Cant wait.

On the Earbook I'm listening to ABBADON'S GATE. It's been a while since I've been in this solar system, but easing back in very nicely.

You'll enjoy the Appcalyspe codex JPK, it's ace.

[Chance]

Briar King, on 07 May 2020 - 05:20 PM, said:

Chance, on 17 April 2020 - 05:48 PM, said:

Finished The First Man in Rome which was excellent, will continue on to The Grass Crown.

A very nice mix of history and the minor personal stories of side characters are very engaging and paint such vivid picture of ancient life. Most fantasy doesn't have the strangeness of roman life and I guess that some of the details would have seemed too bizarre for most fantasy but works because yepp they really did that stuff that today sound like insanity.

Update!

Kind of stalled the last few days on the last third of Ceasar for now, while it is still excellent I just can't listen to it at work its too complex and I miss too much. So I'll continue and probably finish the series at a slower pace listening on my off days which are at least twice as many as normal in these times. At the same time by Ceasar I got a pretty good clue about what is happening to who, when and how so actually I found earlier era more compelling, perhaps I rather have Marius and Sulla than Ceasar and Pompei.

Started a re-listen of Low Town for work which was precisely what I needed, these books are pretty close to perfect for small scope gritty kinda urban fantasy even if it takes place not in current times but fantasy land.

This post has been edited by Chance: 08 May 2020 - 04:34 PM

[Macros]

missed the hobbit reading.

anyone following it?

[QuickTidal]

Macros, on 08 May 2020 - 08:45 PM, said:

missed the hobbit reading.

anyone following it?

Caught it. Wonderful stuff!

[Macros]

would loved to have listened to it, but was flat out all day and couldnt have rocked ear phones with the digger, not safe

[Abyss]

Just Finished PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE.
So... yeah. Finished.


....have I mentioned how great MURDERBOT DIARIES NETWORK EFFECT is?

[Aptorian]

Read Finna by Nino Cipri.

It's a story about a couple of faux-IKEA workers, who just broke up their relationship, who have to go jumping through other dimensions looking for a customer that got lost through a worm hole while trying to cope with their hurt feelings

It's a cool little Doctor Who like story made a bit tedious by its wokeness. The protagonists are a transsexual with commitment issues and ADD and a mess who's suffering from anxiety and depression. It's basically a story for twenty something wokesters who hate corporations and love painfully awkward relationships.

Not bad, not great.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 09 May 2020 - 07:14 PM

[Aptorian]

I'm reading a textbook about China's political system and economy in modern times.

I'm currently reading about the way you're recruited or accepted into their political party and the various groups, cadres, tiers of influence, nomenclature shuffling of public and private leadership roles that define their political structure, etc. I can't say I'm comprehending half of this but I can conclude that Scientology seem sort of normal in comparison.

Also were you aware that the Chinese President and Prime minister apparently only earn around roughly the equivalent of 500 USD a month? That's before the various benefits kick in off course.

I'm also reading the sixth Witcher book, The Tower of the Swallow. It's once again focused on Ciri and therefore automatically a disappointing book from the start.

How am I supposed to sympathise with a girl who spends her teenage years as a highway man terrorising the countryside? I hope she gets burned at the stake.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 10 May 2020 - 06:17 PM

[Abyss]

Aptorian, on 10 May 2020 - 06:11 PM, said:

...

I'm also reading the sixth Witcher book, The Tower of the Swallow. ...

Seriously?
That's its name? For reals?

[Warrior on the Edge of Time]

Currently reading
A criminal history of mankind by Colin Wilson
Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain
Right where you are sitting now by Robert Anton Wilson

This post has been edited by Warrior on the Edge of Time: 11 May 2020 - 08:46 AM

[Aptorian]

Abyss, on 11 May 2020 - 03:38 AM, said:

Aptorian, on 10 May 2020 - 06:11 PM, said:

...

I'm also reading the sixth Witcher book, The Tower of the Swallow. ...

Seriously?
That's its name? For reals?

Why what ever do you mean, Abyss?

It's a book about a young girl who is coming of age seeking a tower to fulfill her needs.

Finished the Tower of the Swallow yesterday.

Like the other books I'm so conflicted about the story and writing. On the one hand, it's not a terrible book, it has dialogue and action scenes that are engrossing at times but on the other the plot is meandering and slow and the constantly shifting perspectives and focus of the telling is just bizarre and unsatisfying.

This 6th one is especially irritating because it doesn't really finish. The story just goes until the book ran out of pages. It's not even a cliffhanger, it just sort of stops in the middle of things.

I'm starting to wonder how the series wraps up with just two books to go.

[Mentalist]

Aptorian, on 16 May 2020 - 03:55 PM, said:

Abyss, on 11 May 2020 - 03:38 AM, said:

Aptorian, on 10 May 2020 - 06:11 PM, said:

...

I'm also reading the sixth Witcher book, The Tower of the Swallow. ...

Seriously?
That's its name? For reals?

Why what ever do you mean, Abyss?

It's a book about a young girl who is coming of age seeking a tower to fulfill her needs.

Finished the Tower of the Swallow yesterday.

Like the other books I'm so conflicted about the story and writing. On the one hand, it's not a terrible book, it has dialogue and action scenes that are engrossing at times but on the other the plot is meandering and slow and the constantly shifting perspectives and focus of the telling is just bizarre and unsatisfying.

This 6th one is especially irritating because it doesn't really finish. The story just goes until the book ran out of pages. It's not even a cliffhanger, it just sort of stops in the middle of things.

I'm starting to wonder how the series wraps up with just two books to go.

There's some serious Deus Ex Machina going on.

In a post ASOIAF world of grimdark a dozen, the books don't really stand out much. The series is a bit of a product of its time.

I've been stalled on "Fugitive prince". Haven't touched it in about a week. Just over half-way through, and the story just lost steam. It does this thing where it switches PoV from "one side that is laying an ingenious trap for the other, that predicts all outcomes" and then it switches PoV to show "the other side that tries everything to escape, but oh, this was all part of the other sides' plan all along" thing. Which is something I really don't like. Hated it when John Marco did it; it was one of the (many) reasons I dropped K.J.Parker's Engineer books; and I'm not loving it now. It's a stupid literary device that authors should stop using.

[Abyss]

Just Finished MURDERBOT DIARIES 5:NETWORK EFFECT.


Look... you are my people and I love you all and want you to be happy. So I require you to read Martha Wells' MURDERBOT DIARIES immediately if you are not already, and if you are, get NETWORK because it's frikkin great. The Murderbot narrator is engaging and funny and a brilliant commentator on humanity who happens to enjoy murdering the shit out of anyone who threatens its humans. The action sequences are great, the science reasonable without being overly technical, the pace is great, and the dialogue in NETWORK had me grinning every time I resumed listening.

Earbook narrator is perfect.

Worth your money and time.

[Aptorian]

But it's so expensive!

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 18 May 2020 - 06:20 AM

[Mentalist]

Abyss, on 18 May 2020 - 06:00 AM, said:

Just Finished MURDERBOT DIARIES 5:NETWORK EFFECT.


Look... you are my people and I love you all and want you to be happy. So I require you to read Martha Wells' MURDERBOT DIARIES immediately if you are not already, and if you are, get NETWORK because it's frikkin great. The Murderbot narrator is engaging and funny and a brilliant commentator on humanity who happens to enjoy murdering the shit out of anyone who threatens its humans. The action sequences are great, the science reasonable without being overly technical, the pace is great, and the dialogue in NETWORK had me grinning every time I resumed listening.

Earbook narrator is perfect.

Worth your money and time.

Do they come in dead tree versions?

[Abyss]

Aptorian, on 18 May 2020 - 06:20 AM, said:

But it's so expensive!

Last we checked you still have both kidneys Apt.

Mentalist, on 18 May 2020 - 05:15 PM, said:

Abyss, on 18 May 2020 - 06:00 AM, said:

Just Finished MURDERBOT DIARIES 5:NETWORK EFFECT.


Look... you are my people and I love you all and want you to be happy. So I require you to read Martha Wells' MURDERBOT DIARIES immediately if you are not already, and if you are, get NETWORK because it's frikkin great. The Murderbot narrator is engaging and funny and a brilliant commentator on humanity who happens to enjoy murdering the shit out of anyone who threatens its humans. The action sequences are great, the science reasonable without being overly technical, the pace is great, and the dialogue in NETWORK had me grinning every time I resumed listening.

Earbook narrator is perfect.

Worth your money and time.

Do they come in dead tree versions?

Yes, all of them.

[Cyphon]

ABBADON'S GATE on the earbook is everything I remember the books being and I'm enjoying my space politics with a side of hard scifi. What really jars in the telling those is inordinately long pauses between dialogue - throws me out. I dont want to speed it up as the reading pace is just right when I'm doing chores etc.

Having finished MIDNIGHT TIDES, which I now think is the best in the series, I'm trying the Jill Kismet books with NIGHTSHIFT. I dont think I've read an urban fantasy before that is so explicitly heaven and hells. Maybe shows how shallow my reading has been.

[Puck]

Aptorian, on 16 May 2020 - 03:55 PM, said:

Abyss, on 11 May 2020 - 03:38 AM, said:

Aptorian, on 10 May 2020 - 06:11 PM, said:

...

I'm also reading the sixth Witcher book, The Tower of the Swallow. ...

Seriously?
That's its name? For reals?

Why what ever do you mean, Abyss?

It's a book about a young girl who is coming of age seeking a tower to fulfill her needs.

That's a surprisingly accurate description of the book, and I actually like Ciri. Or rather, my past teenage self really likes Ciri, I'm just nostalgic, and while I used to love these books, they're not that great in hindsight, if I may say so. I still enjoy the short stories, and the humour (at least in the Russian translation), but overall there's a lot of better stuff out there nowadays.