Kevin's Watch

Fair amount of credit due to you, Fist, for getting me over the line. Your enthusiasm for the series is infectious.

Thanks!

I'm Murrin wrote:Started listening to The Hogfather. A little odd, because I already know the plot from the TV adaptation, but I'm only remembering it as I go.

They did a really good job with the TV version. I wish they'd do more of the series. A live-action Soul Music would be good, since they have Susan so well-cast, but any number of the Discworld books would work.

Thanks right back atcha, u! Kinder words have seldom been said about me. In case I haven't said it seventeen times, the MBotF is the most incredible reading experience of my life. I'm not like Av and some others, who can go through the whole thing in a couple weeks. I'm a slow reader. I've stopped many books in the middle, because the effort it takes just isn't worth whatever's going on. Reading any Malazan book is a joy.

Thinking back on MoI, it's amazing how much takes place in that book. Give a very imaginative guy a thousand or so pages, and you're gonna get some serious stuff!

So I think of the first four as one very big story, within the huge 10-book story. No problem understanding anyone who picks House of Chains as their favorite, considering the various things that come to fruition; are revealed; are shown from a different perspective; etc.

A word of advice. The first couple hundred pages might throw you. They are all about one specific character, who you don't know. When things all meet up, you'll be glad for every word of it. Kind of like Lord Foul's Bane. I had considered it the least of the First Chrons. Especially before he ever went to the Land. But now I go back, and am amazed by all that.

DrPaul wrote:Just finished MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood, thereby completing her speculative fiction trilogy.

I just read those recently.

Fist and Faith wrote:IIRC, House of Chains is Av's favorite.

Used to be. Now I think DHG is my favourite, and I like MOI a lot more than I did the first time I read it.

Anyway, now I'm reading Banks, Feersum Endjinn.

--A

I've decided it's about time I did something about all the short story collections and anthologies I've bought but not read over the years, so I'm going to read a story or two every day after work. Started on the VanderMeers' 2008 anthology The New Weird.

I picked that up from the library a couple months ago, but the first couple of stories didn't do anything for me so I gave up on it.

I'm currently reading The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks. It's pretty bad. I'll finish this one but highly doubt I'll read any more by him.

Pretty sure I read The Way of Shadows and was unimpressed -- so much so that I didn't bother finding the next book in the series.

Just finished two by Carol Berg -- "Flesh and Spirit" and "Breath and Bone". Can't remember which one comes first. Not bad, but I think I like some of her other stuff better.

Heinlein: Citizen of the Galaxy.

--A

Orson Scot Card. Read Seventh Son yesterday, now I'm onto Red Prophet.

--A

Prentice Alvin - OSC

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Alvin Journeyman

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COMBO BREAKER!

I'm re-reading Unseen Academicals.

Avatar wrote:Alvin Journeyman

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I don't believe he ever completed the Tales of AlvinMaker series. But we know how it ends.

Avatar,

Avatar wrote:Orson Scot Card. Read Seventh Son yesterday, now I'm onto Red Prophet.

--A

I enjoyed the "Alvin Maker" series until they turned into a Mormon vision quest.

SerScot wrote:Avatar,

Avatar wrote:Orson Scot Card. Read Seventh Son yesterday, now I'm onto Red Prophet.

--A

I enjoyed the "Alvin Maker" series until they turned into a Mormon vision quest.

Turned into? I suspect it was meant to be one from the start.

I enjoyed some of the books more than some of the others. But he never completed the series. Wonder if he ever will?

SerScot wrote:I enjoyed the "Alvin Maker" series until they turned into a Mormon vision quest.

*shrug* It's very rare that the politics/religion of a writer puts me off, unless the story isn't good to begin with.

Read Heartfire on the wekend, and now finishing off The Crystal City.

Would still love for him to finish the damn series.

--A

I googled something or other while looking for books outside of my usual fantasy tastes, and this came up.
io9.com/5929436/10-recent-science-fiction-books-that-are-about-big-ideas
I bought Spin long ago, but started reading ebooks, so haven't gotten to it yet.

I read The Lifecycle of Software Objects last week. Very enjoyable. AI, in the form of programs that inhabit online worlds. It's very interesting for how they evolve. Not individually, or through any sort of reproduction, but by the way programmers make new ones for specific reasons. It's also interesting how different groups do on the world market, how online worlds do, how companies merge...

Now I'm reading Blindsight. More hard scifi than Lifecycle. Probably more than anything I've read, in fact. Basically, they're trying to figure out what they're dealing with in a first contact situation. It's really excellent. In and amongst the scifi, it's talking a lot about mental conditions, like Cotard's Syndrome and Hemineglect. At the moment, they're taking about Turing Morphogenesis. All kinds of fascinating stuff.

Bizarre though it sounds, there's a vampire. Don't worry, that didn't spoil anything for you. He's the commander of the team, in fact. I almost didn't bother reading the book because of that. But the angle that it's an evolutionary offshoot of humanity is handled nicely.

And, as it says on the site I linked, the book is available online for free: www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm

Edit: I just searched here, and see that Blindsight has been enjoyed by a few.

The Mirror Of Her Dreams by some guy...

--A

Avatar wrote:

SerScot wrote:I enjoyed the "Alvin Maker" series until they turned into a Mormon vision quest.

*shrug* It's very rare that the politics/religion of a writer puts me off, unless the story isn't good to begin with.

Read Heartfire on the wekend, and now finishing off The Crystal City.

Would still love for him to finish the damn series.

--A

Don't hold your breath. It's been years, and it's not as profitable for him as Ender's Game spin-offs.

If you know the life of Joseph Smith, you know how it ends.

Avatar wrote:The Mirror Of Her Dreams by some guy...

--A

One of my favorite books of all time.