[June] What are you reading?

[Gizzard]

Here's a special guest commentary from my GF, culled from an IM log.

N: Oh, I finished "Hominids" btw.
G: Should I read Hominids?
N: Sadly, no.
G: I thought as much.
N: As always, Sawyer has a lot of interesting ideas
N: that somehow turn mundane in his hands.

I wasn't planning on reading it even though it is one of the 5 nominees for the Hugo; I've been burned by Sawyer before (Sorry RangerWickett). But she volunteered to take one for the team and read it just in case the new book was better than the old ones. Apparently not.

That leaves me still reading The Years of Rice and Salt (Kim Stanley Robinson), with The Scar (China Mieville) and Bones of the Earth (Michael Swanwick) left in the hopper. A thumbs up to the other nominee, Kiln People (David Brin), btw.

 

[Liminal Syzygy]

That leaves me still reading The Years of Rice and Salt (Kim Stanley Robinson), with The Scar (China Mieville) and Bones of the Earth (Michael Swanwick) left in the hopper. A thumbs up to the other nominee, Kiln People (David Brin), btw.

Making the rounds of the Hugo nominees I see. Let me know what you think of the KSR. Thumbs up from me on The Scar. Bones of the Earth is in my to be read stack but haven't got around to it quite yet.

 

[Mallus]

Still putting off Moby Dick...

... come to think of it, I've been reading so much more since I picked up MD. Everything but MD, of course.

Just finished Alan Moore's Promethea trades 1-3. Next up, MD... I mean PKD's Confessions of a Crap Artist {such a better title that Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man}.

 

[Gizzard]

Making the rounds of the Hugo nominees I see. Let me know what you think of the KSR.

I finished it up this weekend and was disappointed.

He's ambitious; 10 linked stories which grapple with the great philosophical questions that form the theme of the book. You can't fault him for aiming low.

Still, the more I read of it, the more frustrated I got. I didn't find that much of his grappling with philosophy lead anywhere - as a matter of fact, his characters lament from time to time how little they they understand of these issues. I agreed with them, I felt that KSR took out a lot of important ideas and poked at them once or twice, but certainly never had anything particular to say about them.

But if this sort of book doesn't stand as the sum of its parts, then we should look at the parts on their own. The 10 stories are uneven, some being good, some being too long or too repetitive, one in particular being without a point that I could discern. Nothing in there I would nominate for Best Novella though, which might be another way of looking at how this book holds together.

On a technical level I was fine with the prose and the characterization. Unfortunately, KSR is prone to long digressions that don't add anything to the story. If a character goes to a professional conference, I don't need a half-page enumeration of all the panels she chose not to go to. As a friend said, "Well, thats how he details his world, by piling up random pieces of information." I couldn't help but compare it to Mieville, who also piles detail upon detail in order to build up a world. Mieville is so much more successful at this though; he generates a sense of atmosphere, of being in a place even when he is repeating himself. I never found myself questioning why I was being told something with Mieville, but frequently did with KSR. "Is he getting paid by the word?" ;-)

Anyway, my current Hugo standings are Kiln People > Years of Rice and Salt with The Scar and Bones of the Earth coming up and Hominids unlikely to be read.

 

[Pbartender]

Well, I've reading up lately to prepare myself for a new D&D campaign that begins in a month.

So right now, I reading...

The "Warlord" series, by Bernard Cornwell.
Stonehenge, by Bernard Cornwell.
The "Conan" stories, by Howard, Carter and de Camp (I refuse to read the Jordan stories).
Shogun, by James Clavell.
Eaters of the Dead, by Michael Crichton.

Mixed in there for a little variety, I've also been reading...

The "Bond" books, by Ian Fleming.
One for the Morning Glory, by John Barnes.
The "Starbuck" series, by Bernard Cornwell.
The Silmarrilion, by JRR Tolkien.

Yeah... I've been reading a lot of Cornwell lately, but I'm running out of his books a the library and will have to move on soon.

 

[emergent]

I am reading Martin Buber's I and Thou for the dissertation. Very good -- potentially profound, I think, but not at all organized in a traditional philosophical style of argument, which makes it hard to read, sometimes.

Lest anyone accuse me of being too highbrow, I also just got caught up with all the Ultimate trade paperbacks -- Spiderman, X-Men, and Ultimates. I am really impressed with the quality of storytelling in those comics, Ultimate Spidey, especially.

 

[nHammer]

Just finished Condemnation by Rich Baker. Pretty damn good book, I really found myself liking Baker's prose.

I just got this a couple of days ago. I've managed to start it. I'm really enjoying this series.

Tomorrow Stephen King's The Gunsliger (Updated and Revised) hit the shelves. Looking forward to getting that.

 

[Justinian]

Anyway, my current Hugo standings are Kiln People > Years of Rice and Salt with The Scar and Bones of the Earth coming up and Hominids unlikely to be read. [/B]

I took a shot at the Hugo nominees as well, with only The Scar left to try.

I guess I'm one of those who doesn't find Sawyer's books appalling, but Hominids is still the second lowest on my list. Not much to say other than I find his stuff interesting enough to buy his books, usually, although I may be crediting his earlier works too highly. Certainly Hominids and its predecessor are a step down.

Lowest is Rice and Salt, which I simply could not get into when I started it a few months back. The method he used to link chapters grated on me, and the couple that I read seemed weak. I might try again after I read The Scar.

I found Kiln People disappointing, not because it is a bad book (in fact, it's my top choice), but because it could have been so much more. Brin had a chance to write about some really fascinating things...duplicated memories, identity issues, human/clone rights. And sometimes it seemed like he tried to, but ended up back in the detective story. I liked it, but it is a good book that could have been great.

Bones of the Earth was, to me, one of the average books. I found it mildly interesting, but nothing extremely special. This book also triggered my sense of "the author is making A POINT" about evolution vs. creation. Seems I remember his characters harping about it. Surely that's a debate that doesn't require a large amount of space, whichever side one believes in. It detracted from the book for me.

I'm looking forward to reading The Scar. PSS was an intriguing book, and it's lured me into the sequel. (Or not-so-sequel, I suppose, depending on your definition.)

So to sum up, my rankings are Kiln People -> Bones of the Earth -> I'm starting not to care -> Hominids -> The Years of Rice and Salt, with The Scar upcoming.

 

[theburningman]

Due to some minor inconveniences (end of school, post-planning, house getting flooded, and what not) I'm still reading Cryptonomicon , but I'm still loving it.

 

[Piratecat]

I tore through the new Harry Potter in an evening. Vrooom!

Before that I re-read Fraser's original Flashman novel. It recounts one of the most disastrous retreats in history: Britian's desperate retreat from Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass, in the middle of winter in 1842. Horribly bungled by one of the most incompetent commanders of all time, General Elphinstone, an army of 16,000 had ONE survivor. One, plus a handful of captives. Just imagine.