What are you reading [May 2017]?

[Flexor the Mighty!]

The Fallible Fiend was a fun story.

Right now I've got a pile of books but I moved Caliban's War to the top so I can finish watching season 2 of the Expanse.

 

[Kramodlog]

Tor's monthly free ebook is A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. http://ebookclub.tor.com/

I do not know him, but he won many awards for other works, so why not?

 

[Kramodlog]

Double P... ost

Here there be double post, says I!

 

[Jhaelen]

I don't think I'd already mentioned I've started reading 'Dark Eden' by Chris Beckett.

It's about the progeny of a couple stranded on an alien planet. Five generations after that incident, they've devolved into a rather stagnant stone-age society, plagued by defects caused by a too small gene pool, when one of the few clever individuals remaining realizes, they'll either have to adapt and change their ways or they're doomed to become extinct.

It takes a few chapters to get accustomed to the somewhat odd language and the alien environment, but I'm now about halfway in and enjoying it.

 

[Blue]

Tor's monthly free ebook is A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. http://ebookclub.tor.com/

I do not know him, but he won many awards for other works, so why not?

That's the best book I couldn't stand reading.

Gem of the first water setting building. Great concept. Really alien aliens, not just funny foreheads but human motivations. Good characters for the most part.

But...

You know how some books you can't put down? This was the opposite, the book I couldn't keep reading. Some point of view characters just annoyed me so much I kept on putting the book down.

I forced myself to finish. It's got so many parts that are amazing, but as a whole it did not work for me and I have no intention to re-read.

I've read other works of his, set in different parts of the setting (and once you get to know the setting, different parts REALLY means different), and enjoyed them. But not this one.

How the heck do you rate "Great book; did not enjoy"?

I really hope you enjoy it - the setting deserves love. It just did not work for me.

 

[Kramodlog]

That's the best book I couldn't stand reading.

Gem of the first water setting building. Great concept. Really alien aliens, not just funny foreheads but human motivations. Good characters for the most part.

But...

You know how some books you can't put down? This was the opposite, the book I couldn't keep reading. Some point of view characters just annoyed me so much I kept on putting the book down.

I forced myself to finish. It's got so many parts that are amazing, but as a whole it did not work for me and I have no intention to re-read.

I've read other works of his, set in different parts of the setting (and once you get to know the setting, different parts REALLY means different), and enjoyed them. But not this one.

How the heck do you rate "Great book; did not enjoy"?

I really hope you enjoy it - the setting deserves love. It just did not work for me.

As reader I'm more interested in settings and plots, than in characters and their emotions. This might be very well be my kind of book.

 

[Jhaelen]

How the heck do you rate "Great book; did not enjoy"?

Sounds like the category of books I consider 'Ulysses' by James Joyce to be a part of. I fully realize it's the work of a genius, but it was a real slog to read. I'm kind of glad I did, though, because I now have a better idea what it's like. It's a piece of art, and also a bit akin to what us software engineers call a 'proof of concept'.

It's also a category I like to use for music: I make a point to differentiate between music I consider bad, and music that I don't like. Many don't seem to get the difference, but to me it's obvious. I believe you can define a set of objective criteria that allows you to tell good music from bad, but you cannot do that to decide if you enjoy music or not.

Finally, I had a related discussion about movies: E.g. I really like some of the movies by Michael Haneke, e.g. Funny Games, or The White Ribbon. But they can be really painful to watch at times. So, when I recommended them to a friend, he asked me: "Why should I watch a movie that isn't entertaining? Why watch something that isn't fun to watch?" To which, unfortunately, I didn't really have a completely satisfying answer, except that I consider it important for some reason to sometimes watch these kind of movies, if only because they make you think about them. In fact, it's likely you'll never get them fully out of your mind again; they become a part of you.

 

[megamania]

King's The Wastelands and I now understand people's comments about the Dark Tower movie.

 

[Kramodlog]

King's The Wastelands and I now understand people's comments about the Dark Tower movie.

Which comments exactly?

 

[megamania]

I didn't see how the movie preview was much like the books. That was at page 70 of The Wastelands. By page 100 it became clearer to me. Now at around 150 I am looking forward to it.