What are you reading?


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Hunchback Jack
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Hunchback Jack »

I'm listening to Freedom of the Mask, the sixth novel in Robert McCammons Matthew Corbett series. A bit slow, but bloody good stuff. McCammons prose is great, as usual for this series, and the narrator is top notch.

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Sandwurm88
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Sandwurm88 »

Starting off Man Plus by Frederik Pohl.

Only thing I've read by him so far is Jem, which was just okay.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Omphalos »

Man Plus is a bit too frenetic for me. He's all over the place in that one.

Now Gateway, there's a killer book. And The Space Merchants. That one was fantastic too.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Serkanner »

Omphalos wrote:Man Plus is a bit too frenetic for me. He's all over the place in that one.

Now Gateway, there's a killer book. And The Space Merchants. That one was fantastic too.
Gateway is in my top 5 of science fiction novels. It is truly awesome.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Sandwurm88 »

Sounds like I'll have to check out Gateway soon...

I thought Man Plus was pretty good overall, definitely understand the "frenetic" description. He definitely needed to slow down in places and flesh things out a bit more. The part where they actually get to Mars and settle down felt too rushed to be a truly satisfying ending.

Now I'm on to The Penultimate Truth by PKD and then Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague De Camp.
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Re: What are you reading?

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I finished Childhood's End over the weekend. I was kind of disappointing with the paranormal ending with no explanation, but a decent book anyway. Need a new book...
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Re: What are you reading?

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Sandwurm88 wrote:Sounds like I'll have to check out Gateway soon...

I thought Man Plus was pretty good overall, definitely understand the "frenetic" description. He definitely needed to slow down in places and flesh things out a bit more. The part where they actually get to Mars and settle down felt too rushed to be a truly satisfying ending.

Now I'm on to The Penultimate Truth by PKD and then Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague De Camp.
Is Penultimate Truth the one with the ship called Omphalos? That's where my screen name came from, but I read it under a different title I think. That is a rough one with a multi page acid trip description.

Lest Darkness Fall is fun. Brainy and a bit over thought, but lots of fun
Freakzilla wrote:I finished Childhood's End over the weekend. I was kind of disappointing with the paranormal ending with no explanation, but a decent book anyway. Need a new book...
Love that one.
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Godemperorjames
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Godemperorjames »

I'm reading Insomnia by Stephen King now. Stephen King is always an entertaining, straightforward read!
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SadisticCynic
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by SadisticCynic »

East of Eden was wonderful, but I think overall I preferred Grapes of Wrath.

Now I'm reading Blood Meridian by McCarthy. I'm going to be so depressed after these two.

In non-fiction I'm reading The Fabric of Reality by David Deutsch. Cool stuff.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Freakzilla »

Snow Crash
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Re: What are you reading?

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Freakzilla wrote:Snow Crash
Hey Freak! I really love Neal Stephenson. That's a good book.
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Diego
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Diego »

Just started reading Dune, of course! And will start reading the OC Bible from Amazon when it shows up tomorrow. You can refer to my other threads about that one.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Eyes High »

Diego wrote:Just started reading Dune, of course! And will start reading the OC Bible from Amazon when it shows up tomorrow. You can refer to my other threads about that one.
How far have you gotten? I know that you said you have the original six plus two from Brian... just wondering which one you are reading now.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Diego »

I literally JUST started. I am reading Dune itself. Novel numero Uno.

EDIT:

To be more precise, on my Kindle Device, onto which I downloaded these books, I am exactly 11% of the way through with the first book, "Dune". The Kindle does not use pages numbers, but rather, location numbers, which would not serve as reference points of value. But there you are. the percentage complete might help you.
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Re: What are you reading?

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Mandy wrote:
Freakzilla wrote:Snow Crash
Hey Freak! I really love Neal Stephenson. That's a good book.
Welcome back! This is my first by him, it's really grabbed my attention quickly.
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Re: What are you reading?

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SadisticCynic wrote:East of Eden was wonderful, but I think overall I preferred Grapes of Wrath.

Now I'm reading Blood Meridian by McCarthy. I'm going to be so depressed after these two.

In non-fiction I'm reading The Fabric of Reality by David Deutsch. Cool stuff.
Try All The Pretty Horses next. I hear that Gorbachev kept trying to get Reagan to read it.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by SadisticCynic »

Omphalos wrote:
SadisticCynic wrote:East of Eden was wonderful, but I think overall I preferred Grapes of Wrath.

Now I'm reading Blood Meridian by McCarthy. I'm going to be so depressed after these two.

In non-fiction I'm reading The Fabric of Reality by David Deutsch. Cool stuff.
Try All The Pretty Horses next. I hear that Gorbachev kept trying to get Reagan to read it.
I'll keep that one in mind, thanks! He also is famous (as I'm sure you know) for The Road and No Country For Old Men, which I want to try someday.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Mandy »

The Road is fantastic. It's a great and sad father - son story.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Omphalos »

SadisticCynic wrote:
Omphalos wrote:
SadisticCynic wrote:East of Eden was wonderful, but I think overall I preferred Grapes of Wrath.

Now I'm reading Blood Meridian by McCarthy. I'm going to be so depressed after these two.

In non-fiction I'm reading The Fabric of Reality by David Deutsch. Cool stuff.
Try All The Pretty Horses next. I hear that Gorbachev kept trying to get Reagan to read it.
I'll keep that one in mind, thanks! He also is famous (as I'm sure you know) for The Road and No Country For Old Men, which I want to try someday.
The Road is beautifully written.
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Hunchback Jack
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Hunchback Jack »

Also thumbs up for The Road, and I've yet to read No Country ... .

I'm currently reading "Dust and Shadow" by Lyndsay Faye, a novel in which Sherlock Holmes investigates the Jack the Ripper murders. So far so good, although the plot is somewhat hampered by having to stick closely to the factual events. The author has captured the feel of the canonical Holmes novels almost exactly, though.

Perhaps serious Holmes aficionados might find it a bit silly, but I'm enjoying it.

HBJ
"The sky calls to us. If we do not destroy ourselves, we will one day venture to the stars."
- Carl Sagan

I'm still very proud of The Quarry but … let's face it; in the end the real best way to sign off would have been with a great big rollicking Culture novel.
- Iain Banks
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Sandwurm88
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Sandwurm88 »

Snow Crash was one of the first adult science-fiction books I read (after Dune, of course), and I thought it was hilarious. Still re-read parts of it quite often.

Right now I'm in the middle of I Am Legend, which is really good so far. Haven't seen the movie, and might not want to now, because I've heard it's quite different. After that, I'll be looking at The Restaurant at the End of the Universe and Life, The Universe, and Everything. Loved Hitchhiker's Guide, so I don't know why it's taken me this long to get around to them.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Serkanner »

I have just started the Helliconia trilogy by Brian Aldiss. I have read the trilogy in Dutch twice already. This is the first time in English. I am loving it. :D
"... the mystery of life isn't a problem to solve but a reality to experience."

“There is no escape—we pay for the violence of our ancestors.”

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Re: What are you reading?

Post by SadisticCynic »

Read the first volume of a comic called Transmetropolitan. Fantastic. :)

I'll also start on Direct Descent by Herbert soon. Almost running out of new Herbert to read...
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Omphalos »

SadisticCynic wrote:Read the first volume of a comic called Transmetropolitan. Fantastic. :)

I'll also start on Direct Descent by Herbert soon. Almost running out of new Herbert to read...
"Almost" running out of new Herbert to read?!?!

Whew!

I thought for a second you may have saved Direct Descent for last. Be very, very glad you didn't. You will still be able to wash the shitty taste out of your mouth after you finish this particular travesty.

IMO, that book is shit. Save a good Herbert to read for afterwards.

Spoilers: http://www.omphalosbookreviews.com/inde ... s/info/453" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Sandwurm88 »

I'm going to be starting Dan Simmons' Hyperion pretty soon, which I'm excited about. I've only read Ilium by him, but I was really impressed by his imagination and technical skill.
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