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[aravuus]

I've heard similar things about Discworld. I've only ever read Colour of Magic but it was so long ago that I don't really remember anything more than a few bits and pieces of it. Mort, and Guards! Guards! are supposed to be good entry points.

As someone who had a bit of trouble getting into Discworld before, Guards! Guards! was amazing. Absolutely loved it.

Mort was one of the books I couldn't really get into, though.

 

[Jintor]

I like Mort but it's a bit unstructured compared to his later stuff.

Pratchett as an author has a definite mountain curve where he definitely peaks near the middle of his career. He's still brilliant near the end, of course, but most of his books from the final era tend to start losing their narrative shape and start thrashing around all over the place as he desperately tries to get ideas out of his brain before he loses them.

Guards Guards is for my money the best intro to the Disc.

 

[Tugatrix]

Harry Hole? *tee hee*

 

[thomaser]

Finished Donna Tartt's "The Secret History". A pageturner with great characters.

Started Daniel Levitin's "This Is Your Brain On Music".

 

[HotHamBoy]

Finished Donna Tartt's "The Secret History". A pageturner with great characters.


Started Daniel Levitin's "This Is Your Brain On Music".

I've been wanting to read this book since a friend showed it to me like 10 years ago but I forgot what it was called.

Now to find it.

 

[The Culture Vulture]

600 into It.

Feels good man.

 

[Draconian]

It was good, wasn't it? Anything to do with Magnus rocked. I liked Kerpathy as well, but again they drop the ball and her big payoff(

Spoiler

I was so ready for Mel's reunion with her, some heartfelt moments, understanding for how the years took a toll on her etc.

) is literally skipped over. The others on the main cast felt derivative and didn't have chemistry for me.

Yeah, I agree that was glossed over entirely. Everything wrapped up way too quickly. I do love that Magnus is introduced as a seemingly tertiary character and emerges as a major player in the last act. I didn't see it coming at all.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Finished Baccano v1 [The Rolling Bootlegs]

It had a slow start but ended up picking up steam fast. The various perspectives offered, often making it hard to figure out who the protagonists was, actually helped to make it a very compelling and addicting read. I did have issues whenever it switched to Miria and Isaac, who both consistently felt a bit too intrusive in ruining suspenseful and serious moments, but I think they two did help to make it a compelling read.

The aspect of the chasing the immortality elixir and seeing who would end up with it in the end was a blast. The second it finally left the hands from the blender, the book became really addicting. Narita wrote it in a way that I was just looking forward to following how it would say end up with Firo and his family. The other aspect of the 1930's and gang stuff was set up interestingly however I think there is more room to develop them further, if the rest of the books will stay in this time point.

I wonder how the series can continue, this book felt pretty focused on just this event so I dont know where they go from here. Actually the way it ends made me wonder how people in 2002 though it would get a v2 and so on.

Great read.

 

[Sean C]

Somewhere, Christopher Jackson patiently waits by the phone for news on his own Broadway musical.

After doing a tremendous amount to revive interest in Alexander Hamilton, Ron Chernow progressed to a logical companion book, a separate biography of George Washington. Washington, Lincoln, and FDR are regularly named as the top three most important American presidents, but while I'd read a fair amount on the latter two, my knowledge of Washington was until now much more limited. This is the first fullscale biography of his that I'd read, and while it obviously overlaps with various things I'd read in the past (in particular, of course, Chernow's biography of Hamilton, especially in the portions covering Washington's presidency), there's plenty of new information on offer here, particularly about Washington's early career, his private dealings, and his personal life. He makes an excellent case for Washington's status as a great president, particularly since, in comparison with Lincoln or FDR, the actual events of Washington's presidency are much less-remembered today (when people praise Washington, they tend to focus, in casual historical knowledge, on his role in the American Revolution).

The thorniest aspect of Washington for any modern biographer is his status as 18th century America's most prominent slaveowner, a dishonourable stain that remains topical today in discussions as to how to remember him. Chernow does an excellent job of digging into the intricacies of Washington's attitudes, and in particular doing so in a way that never pretends to justify him by suggesting his more humane moments offset the underlying fact that he owned people. Indeed, Washington is shown as profoundly unable to reckon with the idea that his slaves are not employees, and thus have no incentive to perform to the high standards he wishes for in all aspects of his life. He did see his way to freeing his slaves in his will, which is more than any of the other pre-Civil War slaveowning presidents did, but he proved unable to reconcile the more high-minded ideas he had about slavery being wrong with the economic reality that slavery made him rich.

 

[fakefaker]

Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard by Jonathan Auxier

 

[Maklershed]

I love me some Dickens but boy is Hard Times slow and meandering. It started off good but hit a wall. Now every time I start to read I get distracted (or sleepy). Might have to end it prematurely if things don't pick up soon.

 

[Nitemare1]

Wanted something a little light so I picked up The Graveyard Book last night. What I've read so far is good. Then again I'm pretty sure Neil Gaiman could write a phone book and I'd enjoy it.

 

[Peru]

I've always found illness in Jane Austen really curious. Medical knowledge wasn't great then, and I've wondered what Austen knew (my knowledge isn't brilliant either...). Not the ones who are obviously shown as hypochondriacs (although they're very interesting too of course in their own way, I just love Mary in Persuasion), but the ones Austen portrays as genuinely ill. There's Marianne in S&S, there's the girl who fell off a step in Persuasion... many others I don't recall right now. I think because Austen was such a careful observer she never goes wrong but there seems to be a vagueness to it - that would probably be consistent to their understanding at the time.

What do you think about how she portrays illness generally?

There's definitely a vagueness to it, like the profession in general at the time. Read literature of the 17/1800s and there's an awful lot of "doc says it looks bad, let's hope for the best", "oh she bore up well through it all", and try-and-fail attempts that often paint the doctors as gamblers or buffoons or at best a comforting voice of (some) reason.

Same goes for Sense & Sensibility. Elinor's read of the situation seems very reasonable, but then Marianne gets worse, and then she gets better again, and the doc has no clue!

Her hypochondriacs are hilarious but you do understand why people would be nervous back then.

Tertius Lydgate in Middlemarch is an interesting example of a doctor in 1800s literature who grapples with those questions, mocks the lack of professional standards, and seeks a more modern path.

 

[WolfeTone]

I'm reading If on a winter's night a traveller. It's very odd. I'm finding it hard to follow the frequent changing of perspectives and I'm not really sure what the point is. Despite that I'm still enjoying it quite a bit. Bizarre book with a very unique author's voice and 'reader's experience'.

 

[Samyy]

Does anyone have a good recommendation for books on the history of the Mesopotamian civilizations (ie. Babylon, Assyria, Sumerians).

 

[Piecake]

Does anyone have a good recommendation for books on the history of the Mesopotamian civilizations (ie. Babylon, Assyria, Sumerians).

A History of the Ancient Near East: ca. 3000-323 BC

This is a straight up textbook introduction. Don't expect it to be an entertaining read, but you'll get the correct info.

 

[Dervius]

Finally got around to picking up Peter Watts' Blindsight, the first of the Firefall books.

I read the excellent Echopraxia a while back and have been meaning to around to it's predecessor. Highly recommended to sci-fi fans.

.I also have the last few chapters of McCarthy's Blood Meridian to finish and the next volume in Murakami's 1Q84 to read.

Both beautiful books, in indescribably different ways.

 

[Alcotholic]

The Shining took a little bit to get into since the beginning is filled with character building, but its paid off. I'm much more engaged now.

 

[[KoRp]Jazzman]

A friend put out his first novel recently and I have been really enjoying it so far. First in what he hopes is a trilogy and he released it as cheap as he could in hopes that it catches on.

Ruka, son of Beyla, is a monster. Single-born, twisted, and ugly, Ruka has the bright, golden eyes of a wolf. But his mind is as vast as the open sea.

Born in the frozen, snow-covered wasteland of the Ascom—the land of ash—Ruka was spared from death at birth by his mother’s love. Now, he is an outlaw, and dreams only of vengeance. But can a broken genius find redemption? Can he fulfill his mother’s dreams, and use his gifts to change the world? Or once he has it in his grasp, will he simply break it apart?

Across a vast sea is the white-sand island paradise of Sri Kon.

There, Ratama Kale Alaku is fourth and youngest son of the island monarch men call the Sorcerer King. At sixteen, Kale is a disappointment. His father has sent him away to the navy, perhaps in hopes of salvaging a once-promising child, or perhaps just to get rid of him.

Now Kale must prove his worth - not just to his father, but to himself. He must become more than just a wastrel prince, and quickly, or else lose all hope of purpose, or love.

And though Kale does not yet know how or why, he stands on the cusp of discovery. For his path, his 'Way', is perhaps the only hope for his family, his people, and as the storm gathers across an unknown sea, maybe the world itself...

The first installment of an epic, low-fantasy trilogy. Kings of Paradise is a dark, bloody, coming-of-age story shaped by culture, politics, and magic.

Kings of Paradise (Ash and Sand Book 1)

 

[kswiston]

I have been very slowly making my way through Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. I know that it is something of a favorite here, but I'm not really digging it, and I am past the 80% mark.

 

[Samyy]

A History of the Ancient Near East: ca. 3000-323 BC

This is a straight up textbook introduction. Don't expect it to be an entertaining read, but you'll get the correct info.

Thanks! This looks like exactly what I was looking for.

 

[More_Badass]

Been reading my first Sagan book, The Demon Haunted World

It's been kind of depressing to read, because everything he feared has come to pass

Besides the most famous excerpt, these stuck out to me so far

How can we affect national policy—or even make intelligent decisions in our own lives—if we don’t grasp the underlying issues?

Avoidable human misery is more often caused not so much by stupidity as by ignorance, particularly our ignorance about ourselves. I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudoscience and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive.

Where have we heard it before? Whenever our ethnic or national prejudices are aroused, in times of scarcity, during challenges to national self-esteem or nerve, when we agonize about our diminished cosmic place and purpose, or when fanaticism is bubbling up around us—then, habits of thought familiar from ages past reach for the controls.

The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir.

 

[Mumei]

I have been very slowly making my way through Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. I know that it is something of a favorite here, but I'm not really digging it, and I am past the 80% mark.

Obligatory "City of Saints and Madmen is way way way way way better" post.

 

[WAR recon zero]

Dropped Discworld #1. It was just referencing material I don't know. If I am not enjoying a book, game or series it's better to drop it.

Now I am into It and it's a much better experience for me.

 

[kswiston]

Dropped Discworld #1. It was just referencing material I don't know. If I am not enjoying a book, game or series it's better to drop it.

Now I am into It and it's a much better experience for me.

Discworld #1/The Colour of Magic isn't all that great in my opinion. Start with Small Gods, which is more or less standalone. If you don't like that, you probably won't like the series.

You can dislike the first book and like a lot of the rest though. Rincewind sort of sucks.

 

[Maklershed]

Set Hard Times to the side for now and started The Onion Field.


The Onion Field by Joseph Wambaugh

 

[Funyarinpa]

I made a little deal with my dad- he got me the first volume of the Feynman Lectures on Physics as an ebook, and if I finish it in a month, he'll get me all three volumes in paperback once he goes to France in October.

The thing is, I liked reading it on my Kobo more than I thought I would (bit of a PITA with some figures and tables being inconvenient and the page number not updating, but still).

I want them all in BOTH in my personal library and on my ebook reader, lol...

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

After a strong positive first impression, I'm really starting to sour on Miles Cameron's The Red Knight.

I feel like I'm hardly making progress when I read this thing, which isn't a good sign. After a month and change I'm still only 80% done or so, and this is supposed to only be a 600-page book? Does anyone know the word count of this thing because I suspect the print must be tiny in the paperback.

Anyway, it's just SO monotonous. It's the same idea recycled chapter after chapter after chapter and the villain is completely dumb and it's like, oooooookay, moooooove it aloooong.

Ugh.

I'm gonna take a long-needed break from fantasy after this. I've been burned on a few books I've read in the genre lately and this one hasn't been as satisfying as I expected.