World Book Day

[Liar]

Read any good lately?

Just closed Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Nine hundred pages of hard SF for math dorks. Quantum physics mindfuck, political thriller and gunfights on a spaceship. In an alternate reality with a made-up seven millennia world history. Plus a travelling band of ass kicking monks. Yeah, that sort of thing.


Also the Illiad, cause I hadn't read it. It was meh.

 

[Lord_Steve]

Read any good lately?

Just closed Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Nine hundred pages of hard SF for math dorks. Quantum physics mindfuck, political thriller and gunfights on a spaceship. In an alternate reality with a made-up seven millennia world history. Plus a travelling band of ass kicking monks. Yeah, that sort of thing.


Also the Illiad, cause I hadn't read it. It was meh.

neal stephenson is the perfect example of a talented dude who badly needs a stricter editor. the baroque cycle is pretty fantastic, though.

also nooo not the illiad! what translation?

 

[Liar]

neal stephenson is the perfect example of a talented dude who badly needs a stricter editor. the baroque cycle is pretty fantastic, though.

He's a good storyteller with very carefully contained and complete fictional worlds, if one can tolerate his meandering geekyness. Personally, I sort of like that. And in this genre, it really works. You want the tangents. They're half the fun.

also nooo not the illiad! what translation?

Something Swedish. No idea who.

 

[pointless]

a scanner darkly. i liked it. hooray.

 

[IndieSnob]

That's probably my favorite PK Dick book.

Although I do have a soft spot for Radio Free Albemuth

 

[pointless]

it was nice. oddly i only read it because flow my tears was boring the crap out of me. why? i have no idea. it just didn't catch me. i think that's been my issue with dick in general, really. he was a good writer, but i really have to be in the mood for his... well, let's just say odd sensibility.

i was pleasantly surprised, though. the movie was terrible. i'm happy that i gave it a chance despite that.

 

[IndieSnob]

Yeah I'm glad I read the book before the movie.

Oddly I was turned onto him because of Sonic Youth's Sister being somewhat based on his life and writings.

 

[KRCummings]

I found The Big Sleep on a shelf. Didn't know we had it and had never read it but saw the movie of course. Not a huge fan of that hardboiled genre normally but this one rises above the few I've read before. Still, I like detective novels and police procedurals but not of this variety. I dunno. Can't decide if I actually liked it or not. I might try re-reading it later and see what happens.
I finished the Jack Reacher series. That was fun although not nearly as well written as Child gets credit for. I wonder about that. Do I notice it because I read them all at once without a break between books like most have gotten and it's really not that bad or is it really not good writing but nobody cares because they like Reacher? Another thing I'll have to dwell on.

 

[KRCummings]

Read any good lately?

Just closed Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Nine hundred pages of hard SF for math dorks. Quantum physics mindfuck, political thriller and gunfights on a spaceship. In an alternate reality with a made-up seven millennia world history. Plus a travelling band of ass kicking monks. Yeah, that sort of thing.


Also the Illiad, cause I hadn't read it. It was meh.

The Odyssey, Illiad and Aeneid are very good if you allow yourself to fall into them. That can be difficult at times and depending on the translation. Still awesome stories though. Seems as though almost all of todays fiction owes something to them.

 

[Lord_Steve]

He's a good storyteller with very carefully contained and complete fictional worlds, if one can tolerate his meandering geekyness. Personally, I sort of like that. And in this genre, it really works. You want the tangents. They're half the fun.

haha well i half agree with you. he is a superb world-builder and a fun prose stylist, but a pretty bad storyteller.

like i said before, i do enjoy his books, but he lacks the clarity and sensitivity to tell a good story. his female characters, especially, tend to feel archetypical instead of alive, and are more or less mechanisms to deliver dialogue and move the story forward.

i do love his playfulness though- and i agree, if you know what you're getting into when you begin the book his tangents do have a certain ridiculous appeal.

 

[Lord_Steve]

The Odyssey, Illiad and Aeneid are very good if you allow yourself to fall into them. That can be difficult at times and depending on the translation. Still awesome stories though. Seems as though almost all of todays fiction owes something to them.

pshh, the aeneid is a propoganda piece Virgil tossed off to appease Augustus to avoid the banished fate of the (far superior imo) Ovid. note the anachronistic references to the glorious battle of Actium and the family-friendly behavior of the gods. even aphrodite goes from wicked hedonist to concerned mother. blech.

the odyssey and illiad, however, are truly foundational in every sense of the word (except the literal one, i suppose.) there is very little of human nature you can't find in them if you look hard enough.

 

[Bert Notorius]

I love their encyclopedias.

 

[John Doe]

I'm almost finished reading American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot by Craig Ferguson. It's better than you might expect. Hilarious yet thought provoking. It's especially enjoyable if you're already a fan of his.