What are you reading in 2024?

[overgeeked]

I gave both Overlord and How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom a try. Got maybe 10% of the way through each before I couldn't stand the boredom any more and dropped them both. I poked around various light novel discussion sites and was amazed that they were both generally well regarded. Apparently Overlord will end with volume 18...and the consensus is that it starts to get good around volume 9. What the hell? If it starts to get good around volume 9...why bother writing the first 8? Start where the story starts. So weird.

Also started Clive Cussler's first Dirk Pitt novel, Mediterranean Caper. A few chapters in and it's okay. Not sure I'm going to keep going as the MC decides what a grieving widow he just met really needs is a slap on the face to get her over her dead husband. Man. Action-adventure novels from the 70s.

Also started James Rollins Amazonia. The first few chapters are definitely in the pulpy action-adventure style. Not a word wasted...almost pure go, go, go. That's what I'm talking about.

 

[Richards]

I just started The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone, about an earth-shattering apocalypse caused by the awakening of a dormant race of spiders that quickly makes a good run of pretty much overrunning the planet. It's the first book of a trilogy; I bought it online after picking up books two and three (in hardback) at a library book sale for 25 cents each. I'm a dozen or so pages in and it's already proven to be well-written - I think I'm going to really like this series.

Johnathan

 

[misc.affinities]

I've recently finished City of God (E. L. Doctorow) and Fatal Purity: Robespierre, both of which I enjoyed a lot, though the City of God reminded me a lot of DeLillo and came out at similar time to Underworld, so kind of suffered by comparison.

Also read the Shadowdark rulebook, finally. Had dipped in and out, but I really enjoyed it - very elegant ruleset and keen to play.

In the middle of reading Don Watson's biography of Paul Keating, one of Australia's prime minister's in the 90s, 'Recollections of a Bleeding Heart'. I think it's excellent, he's a terrific writer, I'm just finding it a bit of a slog as have been sick with the flu the past week or so and it's hard to get a flow with reading it.

And got a lovely copy of the complete tales of H.P. Lovecraft and dipping in and out of that. Much fun.

 

[Autumnal]

I started Cussler with Raise the Titanic and it worked fine. (Then. Probably wouldn’t for me now.). Later I went back for Vizen 03 and Pacific Vortex. They were noticeably not so good. Then came his whacked out alternate future history period with Night Probe, which was also not good but very fun.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I gave both Overlord and How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom a try. Got maybe 10% of the way through each before I couldn't stand the boredom any more and dropped them both. I poked around various light novel discussion sites and was amazed that they were both generally well regarded. Apparently Overlord will end with volume 18...and the consensus is that it starts to get good around volume 9. What the hell? If it starts to get good around volume 9...why bother writing the first 8? Start where the story starts. So weird.

Also started Clive Cussler's first Dirk Pitt novel, Mediterranean Caper. A few chapters in and it's okay. Not sure I'm going to keep going as the MC decides what a grieving widow he just met really needs is a slap on the face to get her over her dead husband. Man. Action-adventure novels from the 70s.

Also started James Rollins Amazonia. The first few chapters are definitely in the pulpy action-adventure style. Not a word wasted...almost pure go, go, go. That's what I'm talking about.

I have never gotten the masochism of manga/light novel readers it should sell me on the idea of the thing in one volume or less.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I just finished Game Wizards by Jon Peterson. My sense after finishing it was that, to maul a quote from All the President's Men, none of Gygax, Arneson, or the Blumes were as bright as they thought they were, and things got out of hand. Not one of them covers themselves in glory in this telling.

I am reminded of the quote from Gary Gygax about how gamers make good businessmen because they know strategy and are competitive. In hindsight that was...not a correct assessment.

 

[prabe]

I am reminded of the quote from Gary Gygax about how gamers make good businessmen because they know strategy and are competitive. In hindsight that was...not a correct assessment.

Egads, that was incorrect in dramatically self-serving ways.

I've always thought it might maybe be worthwhile to seek out gamers as employees, especially after rules-lawyering some things in the employee handbook at my last job. But that's not the same thing as saying we're all Certified Business Geniuses.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Egads, that was incorrect in dramatically self-serving ways.

I've always thought it might maybe be worthwhile to seek out gamers as employees, especially after rules-lawyering some things in the employee handbook at my last job. But that's not the same thing as saying we're all Certified Business Geniuses.

The hubris of it, considering what we know of TSR's business decisions now, is overwhelming.

Working in IT, a bunch of my coworkers are also gamers. Many are not. One guy even had Dave Arneson as a teacher in college.

 

[Alzrius]

I am reminded of the quote from Gary Gygax about how gamers make good businessmen because they know strategy and are competitive. In hindsight that was...not a correct assessment.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he give that quote in an interview with some business-focused periodical? He was clearly blowing smoke, but what was he supposed to say? "None of us have any idea what we're doing, and it's a miracle this entire thing hasn't crashed and burned yet" tends to be a bad marketing strategy when representing your company to the press.

 

[prabe]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he give that quote in an interview with some business-focused periodical? He was clearly blowing smoke, but what was he supposed to say? "None of us have any idea what we're doing, and it's a miracle this entire thing hasn't crashed and burned yet" tends to be a bad marketing strategy when representing your company to the press.

Seems as though there's almost certainly middle ground between "We're all lucky, happy idiots" and "We're all certified geniuses."