Staying at home is the norm... What are you reading?
- Thread starter Redlin5
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Just finished up Deadlock Rebels, and lemme tell ya - I may actually read a country book if Lyndsay Ely's first novel is as good as this one was. It's been ages since I read a book from start to finish in a single day, and it's still a blast!
- Feb 7, 2011
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Still reading the Dune series.
I started reading it a few months ago, then took a break after finishing the first book. Just finished books 2 and 3, will probably take another short break before continuing with God Emperor of Dune.
I'm also playing Disco Elysium at the same time, and those combined make for a lot of reading.
I started reading it a few months ago, then took a break after finishing the first book. Just finished books 2 and 3, will probably take another short break before continuing with God Emperor of Dune.
I'm also playing Disco Elysium at the same time, and those combined make for a lot of reading.
Peh, scrub.
Anyway, read it in a day as well, but I was far less enthused - you can see my thoughts earlier in the thread.
Visual novels don't count.Peh, scrub.
Anyway, read it in a day as well, but I was far less enthused - you can see my thoughts earlier in the thread.
It isn't a visual novel. Not unless you extend the definition to "a novel that has some pictures in it" (such as reprinting in-universe newspaper articles).
Alright. Finished the Malazan main series
Still at fuck Tool
Anyway, the elements were definitely against the good guys. I cannot understand why Tavore waited so long or that she had any powers. None of that makes any sense to me.
Had a few killed each other in the same moment going on. I... don't like them. Mappo... what a waste. Should have just killed him books ago
Big bad was not interesting. It was no Leoman or Tenescowri. I have no idea why we did the First Shore fight or Niamander excuse for not showing up.
All in all, don't care for the last book
5/10
Still at fuck Tool
Anyway, the elements were definitely against the good guys. I cannot understand why Tavore waited so long or that she had any powers. None of that makes any sense to me.
Had a few killed each other in the same moment going on. I... don't like them. Mappo... what a waste. Should have just killed him books ago
Big bad was not interesting. It was no Leoman or Tenescowri. I have no idea why we did the First Shore fight or Niamander excuse for not showing up.
All in all, don't care for the last book
5/10
I read the Emerald Forest by Robert Holdstock. I assumed the movie was based on this book, but it's actually the other way round and this was the novelisation of the movie.
It was pretty good, need to track down and watch the movie now.
It was pretty good, need to track down and watch the movie now.
Hidden Hand: Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party is Reshaping the World (3/5)
Despite the flashy title, "exposing" isn't exactly the word I'd use. Like, "the CCP is terrible, here's all the ways in which it's terrible," which isn't exactly the most engaging way of reading and writing.
I guess if there's a core theme to the work, it's that we absolutely are in a Cold War with China. It's not like the original Cold War, where the two power blocs refused to trade with each other or maintain diplomatic relations for much of it, but more a Cold War in the 'battle of ideas,' with China setting up parallel institutions, altering the definition of human rights, etc. It's actually an Achilles heel in the book in a sense, in that most of what it describes is stuff that most nations try to do anyway. I mean, of course China's going to protect its own interests, but when so many people are willing to bend over backward to acquiesce to them...yeah.
Still, there isn't too much to reccomend here.
Despite the flashy title, "exposing" isn't exactly the word I'd use. Like, "the CCP is terrible, here's all the ways in which it's terrible," which isn't exactly the most engaging way of reading and writing.
I guess if there's a core theme to the work, it's that we absolutely are in a Cold War with China. It's not like the original Cold War, where the two power blocs refused to trade with each other or maintain diplomatic relations for much of it, but more a Cold War in the 'battle of ideas,' with China setting up parallel institutions, altering the definition of human rights, etc. It's actually an Achilles heel in the book in a sense, in that most of what it describes is stuff that most nations try to do anyway. I mean, of course China's going to protect its own interests, but when so many people are willing to bend over backward to acquiesce to them...yeah.
Still, there isn't too much to reccomend here.
I've been reading far less since lockdown, because I no longer have a massive commute to read during, and I have a huge stack of new reads to get through. But I have just read Beneath The World, A Sea by Chris Beckett.
Chris Beckett wrote the superb "Dark Eden" trilogy, and has put out some excellent other books such as The Holy Machine, and I think he does some of the most interesting stuff in SF currently. (I note he appears to be a friend of Tony Ballantyne, another thoughtfully superb SF author, albeit one who I suspect shifts so few copies of his books I'm amazed anyone will still publish them - I have Ballantyne's new work Midway in my to-read stack.)
Beneath The World, A Sea is a short novel. It's based in a place called the Submundo Delta, a weird and alien place in South America, on an otherwise normal earth. The life there is fundamentally different from the rest of the planet, and even stranger, it is surrounded by a zone which, when left, erases all the memories of one's time in the zone. (This idea of an alien area inside the world and a barrier zone has some parallels with the Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer.) A British policeman is sent to the Submundo to forumate a plan how to best protect a creature called a duende, which the locals keep murdering and the UN has decided merit protection. However, the Submundo forest and the duendes have a strange effect on psychology, bringing out one's subconscious or internal desires. We see how various characters in the Submundo react to this place, and the policeman himself starts to unravel...
I sort of felt that I either didn't quite get where this book was going and what point it was trying to make - that or I was looking for something not really there. I was okay with the Submundo itself, but found the set-up with the zone of forgetfulness around it clumsily artificial. It is quite a dark book, I think it is not kind to many of its characters: perhaps the point being that the place harshly exposes their flaws. It has similarities to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness - European colonist types going to a very foreign land with their colonial assumptions, finding themselves hopelessly out of their depth, and "going native" or becoming unstuck. Perhaps it explores the difference between people relatively at peace with their inner selves, and people who have a constructed "persona" with heavily repressed underlying thoughts. For instance, one of the characters is judged by the policeman at different points, each from one of his "two" personae: and I cannot help but think both are valid judgements in their way.
So, I sort of enjoyed it, but I also felt something insubstantial about it, as if some insight had eluded my grasp.
Chris Beckett wrote the superb "Dark Eden" trilogy, and has put out some excellent other books such as The Holy Machine, and I think he does some of the most interesting stuff in SF currently. (I note he appears to be a friend of Tony Ballantyne, another thoughtfully superb SF author, albeit one who I suspect shifts so few copies of his books I'm amazed anyone will still publish them - I have Ballantyne's new work Midway in my to-read stack.)
Beneath The World, A Sea is a short novel. It's based in a place called the Submundo Delta, a weird and alien place in South America, on an otherwise normal earth. The life there is fundamentally different from the rest of the planet, and even stranger, it is surrounded by a zone which, when left, erases all the memories of one's time in the zone. (This idea of an alien area inside the world and a barrier zone has some parallels with the Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer.) A British policeman is sent to the Submundo to forumate a plan how to best protect a creature called a duende, which the locals keep murdering and the UN has decided merit protection. However, the Submundo forest and the duendes have a strange effect on psychology, bringing out one's subconscious or internal desires. We see how various characters in the Submundo react to this place, and the policeman himself starts to unravel...
I sort of felt that I either didn't quite get where this book was going and what point it was trying to make - that or I was looking for something not really there. I was okay with the Submundo itself, but found the set-up with the zone of forgetfulness around it clumsily artificial. It is quite a dark book, I think it is not kind to many of its characters: perhaps the point being that the place harshly exposes their flaws. It has similarities to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness - European colonist types going to a very foreign land with their colonial assumptions, finding themselves hopelessly out of their depth, and "going native" or becoming unstuck. Perhaps it explores the difference between people relatively at peace with their inner selves, and people who have a constructed "persona" with heavily repressed underlying thoughts. For instance, one of the characters is judged by the policeman at different points, each from one of his "two" personae: and I cannot help but think both are valid judgements in their way.
So, I sort of enjoyed it, but I also felt something insubstantial about it, as if some insight had eluded my grasp.
The Giver Quartet by Lois Lowry. I watched the movie sometime last week, I liked the premise of the movie but I felt like the ending was too lackluster / cliffhanger-ish. That's when I found out that it was adapted from a book. It's one of those weird moments where you watch the movie first, then read the book. I'm liking it so far!
Currently listening to
Keith blackmore 131 days - fantasy book about Freeman gladiators going through the summer gladiatorial games and trying to form a house. In this world it's fairly similar to the real world games, but most gladiators are indentured servants or slaves owned by houses. Anyone can compete but the houses sort of control everything and few Freeman ever survive due to lack of support and training. I'm pretty early in the story couldn't tell you where it's going.
Reading the current run of TMNT from IDW comics. I'd talk about where I'm at in the story, but I don't wanna spoil it. I'll only say where series is at this point, whew boy, World got really complicated.
Keith blackmore 131 days - fantasy book about Freeman gladiators going through the summer gladiatorial games and trying to form a house. In this world it's fairly similar to the real world games, but most gladiators are indentured servants or slaves owned by houses. Anyone can compete but the houses sort of control everything and few Freeman ever survive due to lack of support and training. I'm pretty early in the story couldn't tell you where it's going.
Reading the current run of TMNT from IDW comics. I'd talk about where I'm at in the story, but I don't wanna spoil it. I'll only say where series is at this point, whew boy, World got really complicated.
Read a bunch of stuff:
Tupia: The Remarkable Story of Captain Cook’s Polynesian Navigator (3/5)
Woke: A Guide to Social Justice (3/5)
Mass Effect: Andromeda – Nexus Uprising (3/5)
Avatar: The Last Airbender – Toph Beifong’s Metalbending Academy (4/5)
Avatar: The Legend of Korra – Turf Wars (Part 1) (4/5)
Avatar: The Legend of Korra – Turf Wars (Part 2) (4/5)
Avatar: The Legend of Korra – Turf Wars (Part 3) (4/5)
Avatar: The Legend of Korra – Ruins of the Empire (Part 1) (4/5)
Avatar: The Legend of Korra – Ruins of the Empire (Part 2) (4/5)
Avatar: The Legend of Korra – Ruins of the Empire (Part 3) (4/5)
Tupia: The Remarkable Story of Captain Cook’s Polynesian Navigator (3/5)
Woke: A Guide to Social Justice (3/5)
Mass Effect: Andromeda – Nexus Uprising (3/5)
Avatar: The Last Airbender – Toph Beifong’s Metalbending Academy (4/5)
Avatar: The Legend of Korra – Turf Wars (Part 1) (4/5)
Avatar: The Legend of Korra – Turf Wars (Part 2) (4/5)
Avatar: The Legend of Korra – Turf Wars (Part 3) (4/5)
Avatar: The Legend of Korra – Ruins of the Empire (Part 1) (4/5)
Avatar: The Legend of Korra – Ruins of the Empire (Part 2) (4/5)
Avatar: The Legend of Korra – Ruins of the Empire (Part 3) (4/5)
Been cleaning my house and stumbled upon a few of my old comic books and started reading the first one in a pile of 10 which is Batman: The Dark Knight Returns