The Sword and Laser discussion

New month, new thread.

I just picked up a bunch of books from Haikasoru, a company that's translating Japanese sci-fi novels into English. First up is The Lord of the Sands of Time, then Rocket Girls and Usurper of the Sun.

I'm reading Conrad's Fate (Diana Wynne Jones). It's about parallel universes where the same house exists in both, and in one of them somebody is changing the world, slowly and secretively. Conrad has bad karma and so must find the bad guy. Christopher Chant, who needs no introduction, is there too, but for his own reasons. Any book with Christopher Chant in it is a must for me.

Reading Douglas Hofstadter's newest book I Am a Strange Loop, the first half of which was too much of a re-tread of his Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, but now it's actually becoming interesting and unexpectedly moving.

Then I want to read Gibson's Mona Lisa Overdrive to finish his 'Sprawl trilogy' and continue with more Gibson (I haven't read any of his newer novels).

Jlawrence wrote: "Reading Douglas Hofstadter's newest book I Am a Strange Loop, the first half of which was too much of a re-tread of his Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, but ..."

That's odd i just picked this up at the used bookstore about three days ago. Haven't opened it yet. It's been about ten years since I read Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid so I think I might appreciate a refresher course. It was at the bottom of the to-read pile but I'm intrigued by your "unexpectedly moving" comment so I think I'll move it up in the line-up.

Just finished The Man with the Golden Gun my first Bond book. It was entertaining enough and it was a quick read. Most reviews say it's one of the weakest in the series, the plot is pretty flimsy and huge chunks of the book are just a few guys sitting around a table talking and not doing much of anything. I did like that unlike the suave composed Bond of the movies, this book starts with him as a broken confused man and is really the story of him trying to regain his mettle. I'm going to try the first in the series Casino Royale next. Any Bond or other spy novel suggestions?

Also on the bookshelf: The Forever War and Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West

I'm reading Monster by A. Lee Martinez. It is definitely a fun read. It is quirky but I like the characters especially Chester the paper man.

I just finished The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. What an awesome book. I'm off to reading Catching Fire now.

The Hunger Games

Catching Fire

Getting stuck into The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions. I love it thus far; "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs," in particular, is fantastic.

I just started reading the The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. It appears to be a short read and he was always one of those founding fathers that appears to be the most off the wall. He seems like he was quite the personality.

For a change of pace (quite the uptick after the first story), I decided to read an anthology of Robert E. Howard's Conan tales: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian. 'The Phoenix on the Sword' left me breathless with my heart thumping in my ears.

I'm looking forward to CryoBurn later in the month. I'd like to tackle Connie Willis Blackout and All Clear but I think I'll wait until winter for those two tomes.

The rest of my October reading can be found on my current-month shelf.

Well, today I'll probably finish Dreadnought, and then put my nose fully into The Princess Bride (which is reread I don't know what, but it's very much in the double-digits). I should be done just in time for Behemoth, which I have pre-ordered for my Kindle. Wintertide was supposed to be out yesterday, but the author's website mentioned a short delay. I'll plow through that when it comes too.

Then I need to commit to one of the longer books in my Unread folder, so maybe The Way of Kings or The Gone-Away World. Will fit The Once and Future King in there somewhere, but after the disappointment I had with The Pillars of the Earth (which I swear I'll finish, but in bits and pieces), I'm not sure I'm into another medieval epic right now.

I need to get through a bunch this month, since November is NaNoWriMo, and there's no way I'm fitting reading in with marathon writing.

I'm about halfway through Shadow Chase at the moment. After that is Blameless, since it's due back to the library Tuesday.

Then the my group reads for this month and other library books (a list that is very heavy on urban fantasy at the moment). Maybe Anathem first, since I keep wanting to avoid it because of the length.

Finished up Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth today. It was alright. I wish they'd talked less about Bill Stone and more about the guy who actually found the deepest cave in the world... (my review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...).

Next up is a quick audiobook, Earth: A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race. I have a feeling that after finishing it, I'll continue reading The Name of the Wind (which I've started on my Kindle) and pick up The Princess Bride for my Kindle. The Once and Future King is on its way to my house, courtesy of Amazon.

Just finished reading Earth: A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race by Jon Stewart and The Daily Show crew and re-reading Nine Dragons (Harry Bosch #14) by Michael Connelly in of anticipation of The Reversal (Mickey Haller #3) (Published October 5th 2010).

I'm currently reading The Golem's Eye (Bartimaeus #2)

I just visited a used book store and came home with:

The Thousand Orcs

Something Wicked This Way Comes

And I'll be rereading The Princess Bride since I rarely can finish Arthurian legend books.

The Swords & Laser group is definitely having an impact denoted as [S&L!]

I'm made note of what I'm reading and what I've read during the last month (S&L!).

I read in stacks rather than sequentially picking up a book based on mood and setting...am I trying to cure insomnia, luxuriate, ignore the the pain of flying, etc. Things get buried or slide under the sofa and, usually, reappear. Sometimes they get consumed in a sprint often when I should be doing something else.

Current fiction stack:
The Pulps -
> sf
The Confusion - Stephenson (S&L!)
Palimsest - Valente (S&L!)
The House of the Stag - Kage Baker
> crime fiction
currently none (S&L!)
Literature
68 - Taibo
Life After God - Coupland (S&L!)

Current non-fiction stack:
Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding- Hrdy
The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller - Ginzberg
Enchanted Feminism: The Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco - Salomonsen
Google Web Toolkit Applications - do I know how to party
Supply Chain Excellence - or what!

Rate of completion: Pulps - 3-5 a month.
Non-fiction: 1-2 a month...a few more if I add the commuting work related books.

I finished reading , which was a real disappointment. Started in on which I am really enjoying so far. After this I will likely finish out the millenium series with

I'm reposting this since not even I can tell what I meant in some of the original posting. It's the result of trying to catch up on email while in bed with a flu.

The Swords & Laser reading group is definitely having an impact on what I'm reading. I've highlighted things that are different because of the group with a tag (S&L!).

I've made note of what I'm reading and counted how much I've read last month. That's different. (S&L!).

I read in stacks, rather than sequentially, picking up a book based on mood and setting. (Am I trying to cure insomnia? luxuriate? ignore the the pain of flying?) Books can get buried in the stack or slide under the sofa but usually reappear. Sometimes they even get consumed in a single sprint often when I should be doing something else.

Current fiction stack:
The Pulps -
-> sf
- >>The Confusion - Stephenson (S&L!)
- >>Palimsest - Valente (S&L!)
- >>The House of the Stag - Kage Baker
-> crime fiction
- >>currently none (S&L!)
Literature --
- >>68 - Taibo
- >>Life After God - Coupland (S&L!)

Current non-fiction stack:
->fun
- >>Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding - Hrdy
- >>The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller - Ginzberg
- >>Enchanted Feminism: The Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco - Salomonsen
- >>Google Web Toolkit Applications - do I know how to party or what!
->work
- >>Supply Chain Excellence

Rate of completion: Pulps - 3-5 a month est.
Non-fiction: 1-2 a month...a few more if I add the commuting work related books.

I'm still reading The Unincorporated Man.

Just started re-reading The Long Walk byStephen King, via Audible. Couldn't get The Once and Future King on audio, so I'm thinking about re-reading The Lord of the Rings next.

I just wrapped up
the final book in The Night Angel series (at least for now) I just started this morning reading a classic laser
I love Niven books. This one is epic as there are 4 in the Ringworld tales and lots of related materials. Should be quite a fun read.

struggling through it mostly because I cannot find time to sit down and read it and the start-stop reading has been painful!

Philip wrote: "Just started re-reading The Long Walk byStephen King, via Audible. Couldn't get The Once and Future King on audio, so I'm thinking about re-reading The ..."</i>

I love The Long Walk. I've been meaning to see if I can pick up a copy of
[book:The Bachman Books in a second hand book store so I can have Rage as well. Great story but pulled by Stephen King after it was found in the locker of a high-school shooter.

I've picked up and started The Way of Kings based on group recomendations. I also reread Fool Moon and am rereading Storm Front - and I've reread the two books for the group as well.

The non-fiction I read is mostly work related and I won't bore you about the US Foreign Account Tax Compiance Act.

Just finished Dragons Wild by Robert Asprin. A very good start to a new series. It's too bad there will only be three in the series. I also just finished Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom and enjoyed it. I'm currently reading Waking The Witch on my Kindle. So far so good but I just started. Next will be back to paper for I Shall Wear Midnight. It's Pratchett so I know it will be good.

In addition to The Once and Future King, I am reading Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. They both are getting pretty interesting. It looks like joining this group will help me find some new and good sci-fi/fantasy works to read.

Just finished Black Powder War yesterday. I'm really loving this series. Previously, I'd gotten all the books either as a free ebook or by borrowing them from a friend, but I've enjoyed them so much that I went out and bought the first 4 books in the series all at once. So I'll be reading Empire of Ivory here pretty soon.

While I was picking up the Temeraire books I found Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 and couldn't pass it up. I dove into it as soon as I got home.

I've given up on listening to Ringworld. Just can't get into audiobooks. I'll have to give the book another go in paper form sometime down the road.

I just finished reading I Am the Messenger and I must say that I think it is the best book I have read this year.

I am leaving for my honeymoon tomorrow and am taking 3 books: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Noise, and Mockingjay. i probably won't read all of them, but depending on the weather, I might be able to. Either way, it should be pretty great.

Put down A Game of Thronesfor a rest and picked up The Princess Brideon the Kindle. I ended up with the 30th anniversary edition with lots of the authors notes throughout. Very interesting and and a good break from the continuously thickening plot line in AGOT. Just have to finish before the show comes out.

I've got three books on the go:

Zero History - I really love where Gibson has gone with this book, finding the future in the now.

The Dwarves: Book 1 - a good old fashioned sword and sorcery book. Can't say it is the best example of the genre but it is ok, and is on kobo so I can read it on my blackberry when I've got time to kill.

Juliet, Naked - despite having two books on the go, when I saw Hornby had another book out about music obsessed permanent adolescents and the women who they are inflicted on (a fairly specific genre but definitely Hornby's sweet spot) I had to grab it.

Just finished a re-read of The Long Walk- a great book if you appreciate sad, tragic stories. Just started Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind. I wasn't sure if I was digging it at first, but it's picked up and got me quite interested.

Cameron wrote: "Just finished Black Powder War yesterday. I'm really loving this series. Previously, I'd gotten all the books either as a free ebook or by borrowing them from a friend, but I've enjoye..."

Great series, I've listened to the first 2 so far- Simon Vance is a top notch narrator. Nice mix of fantasy and alternate history with a different style. Good character development, also.

Michael wrote: "It didn't help that between audiobooks, ebooks and other paper books I've been reading 6 or so different books at a time. I've never been like this before!"

Welcome to the dark side of the force!

Next step down the path to depravity: ever read the end of book before the middle?

Just finished an auditory ingestion of When You Reach Me. I really enjoyed the $20,000 Pyramid structure she uses to frame the chapters throughout the book. It's a story about a girl named Miranda growing up in 1978 who receives some messages from someone who seems to know about the future. I knew next to nothing going into it and was pleasantly surprised by the allusions to A Wrinkle in Time, Miranda's favorite book. Your mileage with this book might improve if you grew up in the late 70's, like myself.

Im working on a few

Atlas Shrugged
The Overton Window
and
A Game of Thrones/A Clash of Kings

I finished reading The Princess Bride and liked it well enough. Now, I'm trying to finish The Name of the Wind this weekend so I can start The Once and Future King. Based on Tom's comments in the last podcast, I'm going to try to listen to TOaFK.

I'm currently reading through again. But after that I'm starting The Once and Future King and The Princess Bride. The Princess Bride has been on my "must get round to that one day" list for a long time. So now I have an excuse.

Just finished House of Suns Alastair Reynolds 'House of Suns' and when I finished I wanted to find Alastair and thank him personally. I was a bit wary of reading this one as I tend to stick to my old faithfuls and perhaps not branch out as much as I should but A.R.'s writing and story-telling is getting better and better. Some authors tend to get stuck in a rut and repeat the same ideas again and again with similar plot lines but A.R. is really growing as an author and had me totally hooked the whole way through this book.
I love his realistic science, which has always been good, due to his real life experience as an astrophysicist but it seems in this book that he is developing his characters in a more human way now.

I am a sucker for historical fiction and am currently reading Bones of the Hills by Conn Iggulden. I really enjoyed the first two books in the series, am enjoying this one and am looking forward to reading the fourth book when I've finished this one.

Just finished the Mistborn Trilogy Boxed Set by Brandon Sanderson. Great reading. The use of "Magic" is done in a very unique way. I always wanted to be a Jedi growing up, now I want to be a Mistborn.

At the beginning of October, I finally finished all the longlisted novels for the Dylan Thomas Prize for 2010. (That link is to my new reading blog, which I started so I could talk about books on a comparative level and move beyond individual reviews. I have a bit of a blog addiction).

I sidetracked to read The Help by Kathryn Stockett, because it came in for me at the public library and I'd waited forever. I am always hesitant to read a book everyone loves, but it truly was a great read, and amazing that it is the woman's first novel.

I also read Freedom by Franzen for the same reason, and it was just not good. I'd humbly like to disagree with all the hype and good reviews to say that I felt punished reading it. The first book to receive 2 stars from me in a long time, and I'm surprised I finished it, particularly since the last 200 pages were the worst.

In my Man Booker Prize Shortlist reading spree, I read C over the weekend, and hope to finish the rest by Monday (I've now read half). It is unfortunate how little time there is between the announcement of the shortlist and when they award the prize, because I didn't have time to read them all and make my own decision first!

Last night I finished The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise: A Novel, a book I read for another online book club. It was ... cute. Not exactly my thing.

Now I'm halfway into The Finkler Question, the book that won this year's Man Booker. It is a subject matter that sounds uninteresting, three unhappy men reflecting on their lives, but somehow it is funny and charming. Lots of stuff in there about Jewish identity too.

So after I finish it, I'll be tackling The Long Song and Parrot and Olivier in America.

THEN I hope to start in on the books we are supposed to be reading for the Sword and Laser, a brief jaunt into fantasy before tackling the National Book Award finalists. I can't help it, I love reading by booklists, to see what other people have chosen as worth merit.

I'm re-reading Cryptonomicon by Neil Stephenson.

But I'm mostly posting here to recommend ebooks on the Ipod Touch or presumably the Iphone.

I do about half my reading on the Touch and half on old school books. I may spring for a Kindle or Ipad at some point, but the overwhelming advantage of the Touch is that I always have it in my shirt pocket. Anytime I have 5 or 10 minutes of lag time I pop it out and read.

It is very small, but also very clear. It's easy to turn pages and it always remembers your place.

Anybody else like The Touch or Iphone for reading?

I've been reading some indie authors.

Serial

Right Ascension

Pain

and next I was going to read:

Grubs

I just finished an ARC of What the Night Knows by Dean Koontz. It's part horror/part mystery-thriller, and it's really, really good. It was one of those books that kept me up late reading. I'm not even a huge horror fan, but I loved this book.

I'm still working on Anathem. I only have about 200 pages to go, but my Nook won't wake up. I should be getting the replacement in a few days. I have to read paper books in the meantime.

I'm about halfway through the audiobook of On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers. It's narrated by Bronson Pinchot. I am having so much fun listening to this. Maybe audio is the best way to take in Tim Powers.

- Almost half way through The Hero of Ages (Brandon Sanderson) and more than a little sad to be nearing the end of this very enjoyable trilogy.

Regards, Jim

I am reading

Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century by P.W. Singer. If you are interested in tech at all and it's role in our lives moving forward, I highly recommend this very well researched book. I am only a few chapters in and I have been shocked and amazed by what I am reading.

http://www.amazon.com/Wired-War-Robot...

Jim wrote: " - Almost half way through The Hero of Ages (Brandon Sanderson) and more than a little sad to be nearing the end of this very enjoyable trilogy.

Regards, Jim"

I enjoyed the first Mistborn one a lot.

I have The Well of Ascension queued up to read soon. I've heard that this one is a bit dragged down, but that it's worth it to get to the third one.

Bill wrote: "Jim wrote: " - Almost half way through The Hero of Ages (Brandon Sanderson) and more than a little sad to be nearing the end of this very enjoyable trilogy.

R..."

Based on the reviews I am somewhat in the minority, but I loved book II even more than book I. The story line is organized much better than book I. Even though I liked it, I found the direction changes in book I a little abrupt. The character development in Book II is absolutely wonderful.

I hope you enjoy it.

Regards, Jim

David wrote: "I'm re-reading Cryptonomicon by Neil Stephenson.

But I'm mostly posting here to recommend ebooks on the Ipod Touch or presumably the Iphone.

I do about half my reading on the Touch and half on ol..."

I use my Droid. I didn't think that I would ever enjoy reading on such a small device, but an hour long wait for a table at a restaurant made a convert out of me. I downloaded a free copy of Great Expectations, and the hour flew by.

Sandi wrote: "I'm about halfway through the audiobook of On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers. It's narrated by Bronson Pinchot. I am having so much fun listening to this..."

Pinchot is an amazingly good narrator. I first heard him read Blood Oath right after watching The Langoliers on SciFi, and I couldn't believe it was the same guy.