[Baco Xtath]

Do y'all think Vellum would be alright on audiobook? Or is it just too much to handle? I've got a physical copy of it but I'm only reading about a book a month right now but I'm listening to nearly two a week. I had a damn hard time with Quantum Thief and Fractal Prince audiobooks, Judging Eye was bearable, and Finch was perfect. That's my par.

[Malaclypse]

Morgoth, on 24 January 2014 - 01:30 PM, said:

I never really liked Snow Crash. The infodumping towards the mid-end portion of the book reached such levels I got anoyed and lost most of my enthusiasm.

Diamond Age I enjoyed quite a lot however. One of Stephenson's weaker works, but I'm a big fan of his writing and would still rank the book fairly high.

Snow Crash is one of my most conflicted books ever - it started out extremely well and then just failed hard imo - I don't get this guy - he has the ability to intelligently populate an imaginary world and chooses to do THIS with it? Unbelievable, what a waste of my time. Who knew he was just going to expostulate about his dutifully accrued knowledge of the historical periods he was interested in and let the plot hang until he was finished with his geekgasm - unbelievably arrogant.

The idea that anyone would ever have to go to the temple to get a recipe for making bread is patently absurd. Shockingly poor thinking. Please tell me what I'm missing with this author. I challenge you.

I reckon he's a madman that has flashes of brilliance in terms of writing and gets wrapped up in his own rubbish ideas more often than not - the problem being the lack of 'common sense' and we joke about common sense not being very common at all and that's true because the majority of our young people are lazy c**ts who think the avenue to their success should be laid out before them. These are people who know nothing of suffering, of being stuck in a horrible situation that you have no way out of and no confidence that anyone you tell about it will help you. I believe that hardship is an important, maybe the most important developmental factor, in the makeup of any individual. You just don't know who you really are until you are faced with genuine hardship.

So, long story short, I'm getting back into prepping, bug-out bag, INCH bag, etc. It soothes my soul to know that I am prepared for the worst. Anyway, on topic, Stephenson is a geek, not a writer - he's an exceptionally verbose geek but the writing and the thinking is sub-par imo.

Thank you for listening to my little rant

[polishgenius]

Baco Xtath, on 24 January 2014 - 09:48 PM, said:

Do y'all think Vellum would be alright on audiobook? Or is it just too much to handle? I've got a physical copy of it but I'm only reading about a book a month right now but I'm listening to nearly two a week. I had a damn hard time with Quantum Thief and Fractal Prince audiobooks, Judging Eye was bearable, and Finch was perfect. That's my par.

Oh, not even vaguely. The early parts of Vellum in particular do a thing where one continuous story jumps between several different iterations of itself in different times, realities and other versions, often cutting mid-scene and several times in the course of a couple of pages.
Once I caught what was going on and why (there is an actual plot reason, he's not just doing it for showing off's sake) I found it far more interesting and far less needlessly pretentious than it seems at first glance, but I can't imagine trying to follow it on audiobook. A moment's inattention and you're three millennia away in a different universe.

This post has been edited by polishgenius: 24 January 2014 - 10:41 PM

[Malaclypse]

aaaand now I know that I can't mix the wonderful new anti-madness pills with alcohol

apologies

This post has been edited by Malaclypse: 25 January 2014 - 05:06 AM

[Aptorian]

Malaclypse, on 24 January 2014 - 10:35 PM, said:

The idea that anyone would ever have to go to the temple to get a recipe for making bread is patently absurd. Shockingly poor thinking. Please tell me what I'm missing with this author. I challenge you.

I was wondering about this. I am assuming at this point human beings were so simple that we were basically just animals living in some kind of near near-worker bee-like social structure.

[Morgoth]

Which is pretty nonsensical to be fair.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch. Finally. Decided I needed a break from Esslemont before reading Blood and Bone. This should do nicely!

[JPK]

I'm one of the few that never had 1984 as required reading in school. Thus, I'm about 30 pages in right now.

This post has been edited by The Incredible Kitsu: 26 January 2014 - 04:28 PM

[Aptorian]

You should also read the Animal Farm.

I read those two back in the 90s but I recall liking Animal Farm a lot more that 1984. But that might also be because I read 1984 after the fall of the Wall and in a decade where everything was looking rosy. I wonder what I might think now in the age of the NSA.

Anyway, I am a dirty socialist so Animal Farm certainly appeals much more to me personally.

[T77]

Before I started reading the Wheel of Time books by Jordan I debated whether or not to read it. Even though most of the Amazon and Good Reads reviews are positive, there seemed to be a general consensus that the books tailed off somewhere about book 6 or 7 through 11. And there always seems to be a lot of negative comments in the forums, more so than the reviews indicate. I just finished book 11, Knife of Dreams, and the last book I commented about here was 6 or 7. I purposely waited until after I read the books that most seem to be negative about.

Well, you can put me down as one of those who has a positive opinion of books 6-11 and the entire series as a whole. I even felt that 6-11 were as strong, if not stronger than books 2-5, even if for the fact that they were shorter and tighter. Books 9 and 11 had Malazan like endings. Reading through some of the negative Amazon reviews it seems most wanted more to happen after having waited so long between books. I can certainly see that. I think it is a different experience getting to read these books back to back.

I am even going so far as to put this series right up there among the best. Not quite Malazan or Glen Cook good, but a solid second tier. And I'm already more than half way into book 12 written by Sanderson and I love it. I am very impressed with Sanderson, especially given the fact that I did not really like the first Mistborn book.

All that said, I can certainly see why some don't like this series. It's not a fast moving, action packed ride. It's more of a slow paced character/plot driven story. For those on the fence about starting it, I say don't go by the reviews or forum comments, mine included, read it for yourself and find out.

This post has been edited by T77: 26 January 2014 - 06:27 PM

[polishgenius]

Maybe Apt, on 26 January 2014 - 05:03 PM, said:

You should also read the Animal Farm.

I read those two back in the 90s but I recall liking Animal Farm a lot more that 1984. But that might also be because I read 1984 after the fall of the Wall and in a decade where everything was looking rosy. I wonder what I might think now in the age of the NSA.

Anyway, I am a dirty socialist so Animal Farm certainly appeals much more to me personally.

I thought Animal Farm was dreadful as a novel, but then, I do get that it's not meant to be some amazing work of art but an urgent denunciation of Soviet communism put in terms that anyone could understand. So it did its job well, that just means it aged badly as an actual story.


1984, on the other hand, was amazing when I first read it but has become ever more terrifying the longer I've lived in post-Millenial Britain.

[worry]

I'd give them both A+ grades (though prefer 1984), and would recommend Down and Out In Paris and London to round them out with a more straightforward real-world tale.

[JPK]

worry, on 26 January 2014 - 06:58 PM, said:

I'd give them both A+ grades (though prefer 1984), and would recommend Down and Out In Paris and London to round them out with a more straightforward real-world tale.

I have read Animal Farm before. 3 times, I think. I'll take your recommendation on Down and Out in Paris and London as a follow up though.

[Aptorian]

Based on the recent mentions of the Ex-series I have begun reading "Ex-Heroes".

Considering how silly the combination sounds "Super heroes and Zombies", so far the book has been surprisingly interesting and a fast read.

I am not sure I understand why the superheroes don't simply wipe out all the zombies in LA but I am sure it will be explained or maybe it is a "ignore the logic" type of thing.

[Baco Xtath]

Maybe Apt, on 27 January 2014 - 01:28 PM, said:

Based on the recent mentions of the Ex-series I have begun reading "Ex-Heroes".

Considering how silly the combination sounds "Super heroes and Zombies", so far the book has been surprisingly interesting and a fast read.

I am not sure I understand why the superheroes don't simply wipe out all the zombies in LA but I am sure it will be explained or maybe it is a "ignore the logic" type of thing.

I use the "ignore the logic" a lot in books like these but I think the reasoning was pure numbers; if you killed one zombie every second and there are roughly six million zombies in LA then that equals roughly 70 days. And that's one per second. But, again, Zap could fry the lot of them so........ignore.

[McLovin]

Over the past couple years I've been slowly remediating my lack of Shannara reading. Got all the way from ELFSTONES through the HERITAGE quad and FIRST KING. Now circling back to SWORD OF SHANNARA, a book I last read some 20+ years ago.

[QuickTidal]

I'm making my way through Mary Stewart's THE CRYSTAL CAVE (entertaining, but slow boil, stuff)...It's funny but I doubt any Arthurian story focusing on Merlin will EVER trump Jack Whyte's Camulod Chronicles. So it's good, but I'd be lying if I said it was the best.

I get a lot of my reading recco's from Felicia Day on GoodReads...realized long ago that her 5 star reads jive a lot with mine, so I've started taking her reviews as personal recco's. In that vein she's got some recent Non-fic's on her lists. So I picked up LOST TO THE WEST: THE FORGOTTEN BYZANTINE EMPIRE THAT SAVED WESTERN CIVILIZATION by Lars Brownworth. Basically the story of late Ancient Rome, with begins with Diocletian splitting Rome up into East and West to save it from crumbling into civil war, and then Constantine solidifying it under Christianity, and moving the capital to Byzantium/Constantinople. I'm only about 40 pages in so far, but it's fascinating and really well written!

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 27 January 2014 - 02:05 PM

[HiddenOne]

Stephen King's Under the Dome, I'm getting into the library scene again after a hiatus of many years.

[Aptorian]

Baco Xtath, on 27 January 2014 - 01:47 PM, said:

Maybe Apt, on 27 January 2014 - 01:28 PM, said:

Based on the recent mentions of the Ex-series I have begun reading "Ex-Heroes".

Considering how silly the combination sounds "Super heroes and Zombies", so far the book has been surprisingly interesting and a fast read.

I am not sure I understand why the superheroes don't simply wipe out all the zombies in LA but I am sure it will be explained or maybe it is a "ignore the logic" type of thing.

I use the "ignore the logic" a lot in books like these but I think the reasoning was pure numbers; if you killed one zombie every second and there are roughly six million zombies in LA then that equals roughly 70 days. And that's one per second. But, again, Zap could fry the lot of them so........ignore.

Exactly. Put a generator in a square that makes thump noises, maybe a human volunteer that smells juicy, wait 24 hours as the zombies in the area crowd in. Zap burns them into ash, move to the next area. And that's just assuming Zap hasn't learned to recognize them and could just empty all the streets in a day.

Also I am so annoyed that the super strong guy is using his hands to beat up the zombies. Give him a couple of iron bars instead and he could go through a pack of zombies like a child chopping down weeds with a stick.

[QuickTidal]

I will NEVER understand the desire to debunk bits of a story (that is set in stone on the pages of the book) like that. Removing any fun it has. Calling things "unbelievable"...if it's unbelievable, why are you reading it to begin with?

It reminds me of that recent ep of BIG BANG THEORY where Amy points out to Sheldon that RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK doesn't require Indiana Jones for anything, and how superfluous he is the actual events.

Don't ruin my movie with logic. I'm not watching Indy for logic, Amy you jerkface.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 27 January 2014 - 04:04 PM