What are you reading? [March 2017]

Blue · Mar 29, 2017

Nellisir said:
I adore NK Jemisin. One of my recent (past 10 years?) favorites.

Never read any, but between you and [MENTION=30438]Ralif Redhammer[/MENTION] saying how much you like, I just ordered The Fifth Season.

Nellisir · Mar 29, 2017

Blue said:
Never read any, but between you and [MENTION=30438]Ralif Redhammer[/MENTION] saying how much you like, I just ordered The Fifth Season.

Sure. Pick the one I haven't read. (It won the Hugo. Should be OK.

)

(OK, she's apparently written less than I thought. I was sure I'd read at least three different series from her, but it's gotta just be Inheritance and Dreamblood...)

In other matters, I do not recommend Sam Sykes. I'm halfway through The Mortal Tally and want to shoot myself. SO MUCH WHINING. I gotta read something good after this....

Nellisir · Mar 29, 2017

Blue said:
I'm with you. I read it as the military complex did the unspeakable and Ender's morale anguish was because of that. Reading further books (which I don't recommend, they aren't as good) seems to hold that up.

There was a point in my life when I loved Orson Scott Card's work. Now...I don't. It's been years (decades, probably) since I've read Ender's Game, and I read the first few sequels when they came out and then stopped. They definitely decline.

Nellisir · Mar 29, 2017

Talking to my roommate last night, and she was telling me how, among other annoyances, she hadn't been able to get into reading Redwall*. So we had a little discussion about her reading habits (mostly vet school textbooks; but loves SF, nonfic, and somewhat fantasy; not a fast reader; liked short stories; had a pretty decent list of books she'd read & enjoyed), and today I brought a bunch of books to the apartment from my house (I'm separated, but things are cordial so I've got boxes and shelves of books at the house because haha little apartment).

I told her about my two rules of recommending books: 1)I don't care if someone likes the book (we all have different tastes), and 2)I don't care if she reads any of them (we can do what we want with our time). They're on a shelf in the hall; she can grab them if she wants (except the graphics because apparently I made the shelves 1/4" too short for graphics. Bugger.)

So, in no particular order, I grabbed the following:
Sandman
Saga (yeah, the comic. It's awesome and she loves weird SF with vulgarity and stuff)
The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge (nice solid SF; good concepts; reads smoothly)
Tigana
Neuromancer
The Forever War
Pump Six and Other Stories
The Glass Castle
The Diamond Age
I Capture The Castle
Wool
Tuck Everlasting
The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters

I might pull in a few more later; I don't tend to read a lot of nonfiction. Not sure where my copy of The Devil In The White City is. Maybe do some mysteries...

*I read Redwall this past summer, and a few sequels. Didn't grab me either, but I read fast and had time to burn.

Zaukrie · Mar 29, 2017

Tigana is awesome, as are all his books. I still have not read sandman. I remain embarrassed...

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Zaukrie · Mar 29, 2017

Redwall and the next couple we great to read out loud to the boys on road trips when they were younger, but I could never read them as an adult

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Ralif Redhammer · Mar 29, 2017

Awesome! It really is wonderful.

Just finished reading The Poem of the Cid. It was okay. Enjoyable enough, but I couldn’t help but feel that El Cid seemed more like a pillager than a hero.

After some debate, I’m now re-reading Leiber’s Swords Against Death. Almost went with a re-read of Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun, but decided I wasn’t quite up to the challenge yet.

Blue said:
Never read any, but between you and [MENTION=30438]Ralif Redhammer[/MENTION] saying how much you like, I just ordered The Fifth Season.

Mallus · Mar 29, 2017

Ralif Redhammer said:
Now I’m reading Kai Ashante Wilson’s follow-up to Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, A Taste of Honey.

Thanks for reminding me of these. I picked up Sorcerer because some reviewer said it read like Samuel Delenay + hip-hop. Then, of course, it went on the (virtual) pile of books I didn't get around to reading.

Kramodlog said:
I hope this book is only popular because it is a power fantasy for bullied video game nerds. Not because space-Hitler is cool.

This is a popular late take on Ender's... but I don't find it to be a particularly good read on the novel. It's not about justifying genocide. That opinion developed after the Brain Eater et Card's brain and a lot of former fans felt the need to demonstrate everything Card wrote was always awful forever.

Wyrms, Ender's Game, and, especially, Speaker for the Dead are good books. I'd highly recommend Speaker if you haven't read it -- it's where Card really wanted to go w/the story of Ender Wiggin.

Kramodlog · Mar 30, 2017

Mallus said:
This is a popular late take on Ender's... but I don't find it to be a particularly good read on the novel. It's not about justifying genocide.

The Hitler reference certainly is hyperbolic, but the defense of genocide isn't. How is genocide repudiated in this novel? Ender is literally forgiven by the species he killed. Humanity, who's planet is overpopulted, got to colonized prepared planets thanks to his genocide. Humanity feels there are no space threats anymore with the Formics dead. Ender is rewarded for his genocide by being the governor and then judge of a colony. He gets to start a religion. Everyone says he isn't responsable for the genocide. That he was tricked into it. Humans celebrate Ender. Ender's teachers and the military are put on trial and they are found (and Ender indirectly) not guilty. No one is guilty of genocide. Ender isn't scarred physically or psychologically.

How is genocide repudiated in this novel?

That opinion developed after the Brain Eater et Card's brain and a lot of former fans felt the need to demonstrate everything Card wrote was always awful forever.

I'm not familiar with other stuff Card wrote, so my take all comes from Ender's Game. As for Card, all I know about his politics are his takes on same sex unions, which means little when it comes to genocide (one hopes at least).

Blue · Mar 30, 2017

Kramodlog said:
How is genocide repudiated in this novel?

Through the eyes of the main character. (And his actions in the later books.)

Say you were reading generic cliched fantasy, and at the end of book 1 the "evil empire" had gained a lot of power because of their genocidal killing of the humans. You wouldn't take that as an endorsement of genocide.

Don't think Ender is on the side of the military - he's been their unwitting and tricked pawn. The powers-that-be that have been lying to the people of Earth to keep themselves in power are the villains. Just because the "evil empire" puts on a trial and finds themselves not guilty of war crimes does not make it so.