What are you reading now?

SELLOUT by Dan Ozzi .. taking a break from Sci-Fi and diving deep in the years that punk broke and that broke punk.

Reading for the rest of the year 

Minus the alchemist 

Has anyone heard what Andy Weir is working on for his next project?

I'm currently listening to Snowcrash.  It's starting to pick up with only about 25% left, But wow it was a chore to listen to it up until this point.  No way what I have stuck with it if it werent an audiobook

Nick Harkaway - Gnomon

I picked this up more or less at random out of the sf section at my local library.  "Gnomon" is one of my favorite obscure words and the back cover premise seemed interesting.  It started out that way, but wow, it has quickly gotten too complicated for its own good, and not for any strong reason I can see yet.

The first part of the book deals with what I presumed was the main character, a police detective in a nearish-future Britain governed by a benevolent-but-Orwellian open-source democracy.  She's investigating the death of a suspect while in custody.  There are lots of parallels to the current socio-political environment that would be very interesting to explore.

However, it quickly devolves into a Phillip K Dick style multilayered reality.  Except where Dick (heh) had the sense to keep his stories short and to the point, Harkaway apparently thinks that's for sissies.  As the investigation develops, the dead character (who we never meet while alive) is shown to have at least three layers of sub-characters, if not more.

The parts centering around the detective are written in third person, but each of the subcharacters are written in first person.

Since the subcharacters occupy an ever-increasing percentage of the story line, and since their parts are first person, lots and lots of exposition has to happen via their internal monologues.  Which effectively means they never, ever, shut up.  And since Harkaway apparently loves his own writing, they really could stand to dial it back a bit.  In addition, most of the subcharacters are pretty annoying personalities, whether intentionally or not.  Plus he has a habit of off-handedly mentioning things that become major plot points later.  That isn't cute or subtle - it's berking annoying to have to go back and hunt down the preludes all the time.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through, maybe 80%, and it has been a real slog since at least 50%.  The writing just took a turn for the even-more-annoying for at least one of the subcharacters.  I rarely abandon books in the middle, but I'm seriously considering it.  There better be a payoff at the end.

For any Boomstick enthusiasts on the board, I'm reading "The Story of Pope's Barrels", which is an interesting treatise on how they used to do things for rifle accuracy.  I have it on interlibrary loan and you're not likely to find a copy.  

The Name of the Rose - Wikipedia

stroker said:

For any Boomstick enthusiasts on the board, I'm reading "The Story of Pope's Barrels", which is an interesting treatise on how they used to do things for rifle accuracy.  I have it on interlibrary loan and you're not likely to find a copy.  

The Story of Pope's Barrels by Ray M. Smith (midwayusa.com)    - Only 1 left in stock at the moment...

So I've read a lot of books this year, but I've been lazy and neglected to post them here. So, for the moment, here's one I read recently.

Great story. Highly recommended if you're patriotic minded and are interested in WW2 history, as I am. But I will do a collage of what I've read this year, similar to what "Yupididit" did for the books he intends to read this year. Tomorrow.  

I'm just finishing "Like a Rolling Stone"  Jann Wenner's autobiography.   It is quite an interesting walk through the music of my life and much behind the scenes accounts.  It really is a history of Rolling Stone magazine more than anything else.  Interesting.

stroker said:

Just finishing "How to Build a Car" by Adrian Newey.  It's excellent. 

 

Another thumbs up. I read the book on recommendations here. It's both an entertaining  profile of an amazing man, and a good primer into F1 since the mid-80s. I've never been much of a fan, but have a few pals who are, and this book has helped me discuss the subject without seeming a dolt. 

Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) said:

I'm just finishing "Like a Rolling Stone"  Jann Wenner's autobiography.   It is quite an interesting walk through the music of my life and much behind the scenes accounts.  It really is a history of Rolling Stone magazine more than anything else.  Interesting.

So when, exactly, did they sell their last shred of journalistic integrity?

jharry3 said:

stroker said:

For any Boomstick enthusiasts on the board, I'm reading "The Story of Pope's Barrels", which is an interesting treatise on how they used to do things for rifle accuracy.  I have it on interlibrary loan and you're not likely to find a copy.  

The Story of Pope's Barrels by Ray M. Smith (midwayusa.com)    - Only 1 left in stock at the moment...

I should have known Larry would stock that...  Didn't know it was reprinted in '93, though. 

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. It's a D&D 5E supplement. I've had my eye on it for some time and finally had a chance to see enough of it to know I'd be happy with the purchase. I know the digital is half the cost, but I hate reading on a screen, especially given the amount of referencing I do during play. It's super nerd level stuff, but so fun. 

I just finished China Mieville's "The City & The City: A Novel." It was interesting but not the easiest read. I'm just getting started into Gavin de Becker's "The Gift of Fear." 

Finished up "And There Was Light , Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle"  by Jon Meacham.

I've read a lot of Lincoln books.  This may be the best.   211 pages of source notes and bibliography.

I recommend.

Duke said:

Nick Harkaway - Gnomon

 I rarely abandon books in the middle, but I'm seriously considering it.  There better be a payoff at the end.

Well, I made it.

There was some payoff at the end, in a rather Inception-like way.  Many of the loose ends and logical breaks were cleared up right at the end, but some remained ambiguous at best and some were totally glossed over.  Some I suspect that Harkaway just couldn't figure out how to close, so he simply left them open.

I stand by my critique above - at 700 pages, this book could have been 200 pages shorter without cutting anything of real importance.  And the concept and writing are not as good as the author himself clearly thinks they are.

Currently reading:

Riviera Gold - Laurie R King

Next-most-recent in the Mary Russell series.  If you're not familiar, these books are a retelling / reimagining of the Sherlock Holmes saga, from the POV of a young, independent woman who befriends him.  There is somewhat more to it than that, and at 16+ books in, the series has left the original Conan Doyle stories behind.

The writing edges toward Mary Sue fanfic, but stays out of that territory.  I recommend reading the first couple at least, then deciding if you want to read the rest.  They're pretty fast and light.

The Unquiet Englishman - Richard Greene

An engaging, educational and humorous piece of brain candy by John Green:  The Anthropocene Revealed. Ironically, the author is super successful in the area of teen fiction, but this is seriously good non-fiction. Also look for the John Green interview on the People I mostly admire podcast. 

I'm working on "The Story of Your Life", which was the inspiration for the film "Arrival" (Amy Adams/Jeremy Renner).  It's much, much shorter than I expected.

Still chewing through books faster than tinworm chews through a 82 Malibu in Ohio. 
Recently started a series called "Bob and Nikki" by Jerry Boyd about a guy in Missouri that starts a saucer repair and rescue business.  The books are super easy to blow through in an afternoon, with some fun and a scifi theme running throughout.  Again, nothing like the Great Gatsby, but if you're looking for a fun scifi series of books to blast through over the holidays, I highly recommend them. 

-Rob

"Peter Egan On The Road", for about the 167th time.  I just love his travel stories.  They seem to ward off the approaching winter better than most others for me.

Based on David's thread "Silence Please".  Been a while since I did any SciFi, can't find the thread now.

Recently finished Trevor Noah's "Born a Crime" - great read, although towards the end he jumps around in his time line, which I feel could have been edited better. Regardless, a good read and with some interesting insights about growing up in a society different than I know in the US. 

After that, I read George Hincapie's "The Loyal Lieutenant".  Interesting read about becoming a profession racer during the height of the doping era and his experiences with doing it and pushing for change within the racing world.

Next, back to sci-fi with the next book in Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries, "Exit Strategy". 

Since this long-time Star Trek fan has recently discovered the wonders of the Star Wars universe beyond the movies, I just finished EK Johnson's Ahsoka to find out what happens between the end of Clone Wars and when they meet her in Rebels. It's considered a YA book, but still pretty good.

Now I'm reading Andy Wier's Artemis. Not too bad, so far.