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Number Theoretic wrote:Last week i finished "Use of Weapons", another Culture novel. Not sure what to think about it, it was very different from "Consider Phlebas" or "Surface Detail". Critics are usually good, if not praising but i wasn't very impressed, although it had its moments. Seemed a lot like a deep character study of one of the protagonists. Maybe i should read it again some time later.

Ummm... Because that's what it is? I think Use Of Weapons gets a lot of praise for two main reasons; its very unconventional approach to structure and the massive twist at the end.

For myself, I've been reading through my Admiral Hornblower omnibus; Flying Colours, The Commodore and Lord Hornblower. I was partway through Hornblower in the West Indies when my sister leant me Snuff to read before she goes back to uni on tuesday so I've been tackling that.

got two post termination cases and were voting on the teneative contract on Friday the 13th, so what I'm reading right now is a lot drier than my normal fare of murder, magic, and marvels of technology.

The Confident Hope of a Miracle, The True Story of the Spanish Armada by Neil Hanson.

Very unflattering to Elizabeth I, and refreshing because of it.

Just finished The Way of the Traitor, the third installment in Laura Joh Rowland's Sano Ichiro mystery series. I've fallen behind and I'm trying to get through the series; still have 11 books to go before I'm caught up. Still enjoying this brand of historical fiction in the Tokugawa era of Japan.

Well I've been reading James Patterson novels. I've went through all the Womens Murder Club bar the very latest one and am working through his Alex Cross books. I know he's regarded as fairly standard but I'm enjoying it all the same.

Got a ton of other books to read like Robyn Youngs Crusade, Brethren, Requiem trilogy and Insurrection about Robert the Bruce. Also got the Simon Scarrow Eagle books to work through. Charity shops round here are a wonderful thing for trying new authors when you get something like three paperbacks for £1 or £1 for a hardback and they're often in good condition.

Well, I got back from vacation in Montana, and had a 12 hour layover in Seattle. While there, I decided to do some reading. I read Play Dead, a book about a zombie football team. The climax of which was incomprehensible for me, as I don't know many football plays and the climax was rather full of football terminology. I also found the protagonist one of the most unsympathetic I've ever read. It was a Christmas gift though, and I enjoyed most of it.

My second book to read was The Invention of Hugo Cabret. I had already seen the movie Hugo in theaters in early December, so reading this was fun. It was a rather quick read, as entire sections of the book are illustrations, so we can watch the action of what happens rather than have it described to us. Still, I enjoyed it, and got it done.

Third, and the final book of my 12 hour layover, was The Giver. I read this before in middle school, and enjoyed it then, aside from the odd ending that just came out of nowhere. I got the Gift edition, which was hardback and included illustrations. One thing that caught my eye was how 1950s everything seemed while reading it. That, and the picture of the Elder who gives the speech to Jonas looks a lot like Bea Arthur to me. I honestly got quite a kick out of reading this book again, as my brain didn't pick up on so many things when I was 12 or 13 that I picked up on now with ease. I wondered about the plane at the beginning of the book, if that was a plane from another country that the Community hides from and the ill trained pilot was a fabrication told to the Community to ease their fears.

The denouement of "Choices of One" was a little bit of a let-down, but it obviously cleared the way for a sequel. I feel like the ending was a bit of a Deus Ex Machina. Not Zahn's best effort.

Just finished Down the Darkest Road, the third and latest novel in Tami Hoag's Oak Knoll series. It's good police procedural fiction set during the 1980's, before the advent of profiling and DNA testing. Down the Darkest Road is probably the weakest of the books so far, but still good.

I thought for a second that dalton had posted Deus Echinacia or god from the aussie hedgehog. definatly one that can't be buggered at all....

I have just finished Terry Pratchett's Snuff.

And really, its a very great shame he never wrote another Watch Book after Thud! but all the same, with the final end to the Dwarf/Troll tensions that had been a subplot since their second book, Thud! was the natural end point of the series...

"Darth Plagueis". It's Excellent . (After that Halo: Primordium)

Just finished Halo: Primordium. wont spoil it - but I was a bit bemused by the ending.

"The Scar" by China Mieville.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

In Confidence: Moscow's Ambassador to Six Cold War Presidents, by Anatoly Dobrynin, former Soviet Union ambassador to the United States. Really fascinating reading.

Since xmas I've been through the Thrawn trilogy by Zahn, Little Brother by Cory Doctorow and am in the middle of Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi .

Also been working my way throuhg Tierra del Fuego, the Fatal Lodestone by Eric Shipton, which is a history of Western exploration of SOUTH South America. Holy shit, back then men were men and also more often than not, emaciated, psychotically brave and driven individuals.

Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams, which is a fairly neat take on modernist product design.

The Grim Squeaker wrote:"Darth Plagueis". It's Excellent . (After that Halo: Primordium)

I have a copy reserved with the San Francisco public library. It's still at the vendor, so I'm waiting. It's annoying given this my most anticipated book of the New Year and I'm really looking forward to it.

JME2 wrote:

The Grim Squeaker wrote:"Darth Plagueis". It's Excellent . (After that Halo: Primordium)

I have a copy reserved with the San Francisco public library. It's still at the vendor, so I'm waiting. It's annoying given this my most anticipated book of the New Year and I'm really looking forward to it.

Side note - the minimalists are going to love it. Among other things, it has 1 million clones, and a single planet (Naboo, others) being important on a galactic scale of common commodities (Plasma=Petroleum).
Pretty well written though

Turtledove's Worldwar: In the Balance.

Really wondering now why I asked for the thing from Christmas. There are too many perspectives, instead of providing a wide view it just makes the story fell really loose and disorganized. And the Race is, in so many ways, too stupid to live.

"Un Lun Dun" by China Mieville.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Well, I just read The Hobbit for the first time. It was quite a fun read. I wonder why Gandalf picked Bilbo. How did he know the man, well, hobbit, had it in him to rise to the occasion and also have the luck of the devil himself. Also, I can understand why Dwarves don't like Elves. I wouldn't like any race that sang about me insultingly while I looked for a place to camp and some provisions either.

Now, I hate to criticize Tolkien, but why are there so many dwarfs in the story when it could have gotten along fine with only six of them. The only ones that really seemed to do anything in the story are Thorin, Balin, and Bombur. The rest don't seem to do much in the story. But then again, the dwarves had to be thirteen, otherwise they wouldn't need Bilbo to round out their number.

The Nook edition of American Gods is on sale for 1.99 today only. Maybe I'll make use of this B&N card burning a hole in my wallet, even though I have a Kindle (and an iPhone).

I've been reading Tales of Dying Earth by Jack Vance.

Stofsk wrote:I've been reading Tales of Dying Earth by Jack Vance.

I love how random everything is in those stories. Everything seems kind of familiar at first, like you want to shout "No, don't start playing that flute! It will imprison you," but suddenly the story's about underground supercomputers fighting demons from another dimension and shit.

I want to finish that collection, but I loaned to somebody and she fled the country.

Bob the Gunslinger wrote:

Stofsk wrote:I've been reading Tales of Dying Earth by Jack Vance.

I love how random everything is in those stories. Everything seems kind of familiar at first, like you want to shout "No, don't start playing that flute! It will imprison you," but suddenly the story's about underground supercomputers fighting demons from another dimension and shit.

Yeah the short stories were really cool like that. Now I'm going through the first Cugel book, which is a laugh (Cugel is such an asshole lol).

And yeah, I know what you mean by the whole 'everything feels familiar' thing. The magic reminds me of D&D, but in a non-lame sort of way. And I just love that sort of... nihilistic dread over the whole 'we're in the last few decades/years of the sun's life'. There is this sense people just do stuff because they can without regarding the consequences, and it makes perfect sense in context because of well, the dying sun thing.

I want to finish that collection, but I loaned to somebody and she fled the country.

That sounds like a story and a bit.