The Sword and Laser discussion
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What Else Are You Reading?
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What Else Are You Reading - December 2018
Trike wrote: "Do I get a point for that?"
Now at the 20% mark and...(modest spoiler)
(view spoiler)
I'm a little concerned that someone who didn't live through the 80s won't get this book, but I don't particularly care because it's so good. I think even I am missing about 10% of the humor.
Mod
(modest spoiler)
[spoilers removed]"
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Would you like help?
Stephen wrote: "Are you like me and are lagging behind in your personal challenges? Then try these Hugo nominated novellas by Lois McMaster Bujold. I will list then in reading order if you want to k..."Thanks!
I am 5 books behind on my 2018 challenge and I keep vacillating between thinking ‘must binge some novellas to get over the line!’ and ‘eh, so I won’t reach 100, so what? 90-something books in a year is still pretty good!’
Ruth wrote: "Stephen wrote: "Are you like me and are lagging behind in your personal challenges? Then try these Hugo nominated novellas by Lois McMaster Bujold. I will list then in reading order ..."I would say that if you can find some novellas that interest you, go ahead. Otherwise, you are correct that 90 something books is still pretty good. I wouldn't pick some stuff just because they are short.
Ruth wrote: "90-something books in a year is still pretty good!."Slacker.
Hey the Penric novellas are extremely fun, so it is a nice way to bump the totals. When I finish Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr my yearly total will be complete. Then I will start Oathbringer finish it the first week of 2019 and already have that " You are one book ahead" feeling.
Got through A Human Stain last night. First time reading anything on my phone and I actually didn't mind it. Enjoyed this for a creepy, one-sitting read.
Recent reads: Ninefox Gambit, Iron Souls 3: Heart of Iron, Trail of Lightning, The Overstory
Finished my nonfiction read and back to SFF. Now reading Alif the Unseen that should conclude my diversity challenge this year. Erik wrote: "Got through A Human Stain last night. First time reading anything on my phone and I actually didn't mind it. Enjoyed this for a creepy, one-sitting read."
This was my favorite Halloween read this year.
In the last week, I've read The Goose Girl (very sweet and empowering) and The Girl in the Tower (interesting, suspenseful). Next up, I'm feeling something Victorian. Something about that setting is very cozy and comforting to me. Perfect for cold winter nights!
Finished Thin Air which was disappointing. Not a patch on Altered Carbon which is a much stronger book. Essentially the same plot and character yep (superhuman fighting machine mows through a series of bad guys with creative violence). Also finished listening to Cruel & Unusual which is notable for fringing a bloke in the beginning of the book to drive emotional growth for the heroine.
Just started Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr which is already heavy going with the cod ancient sentence structure. Gah.
Dara wrote: "Going non-genre and reading Little Women."Maybe they were miniaturized to fight ant crime?
December has been super busy so I haven't had much time to read other than listen to Audible. I finished listening to this month's pick this morning. It was fine. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either.Since finding time to read has been a challenge. I thought I'd try to read Canto Bight since it is made up of short stories. I've been "reading" it for two weeks. So far I've managed to read one of them, lol.
Trike wrote: "Dara wrote: "Going non-genre and reading Little Women."Maybe they were miniaturized to fight ant crime?"
To quote the great Joseph Tribbiani: "When you say little women, how little are we talkin'?"
Dara wrote: "Trike wrote: "Dara wrote: "Going non-genre and reading Little Women."Maybe they were miniaturized to fight ant crime?"
To quote the great Joseph Tribbiani: "When you say little women, how little are we talkin'..."
“Beth is really, really sick.”
“Joey, do you want to put the book in the freezer?”
“...okay.”
Why does my brain have this stuff in it?
Trike wrote: "“Beth is really, really sick.”“Joey, do you want to put the book in the freezer?”
“...okay.”
Why does my brain have this stuff in it?"
That's literally the first thing I think of whenever I hear "Little Women."
I finally bit the bullet and began The Silmarillion. Though, the history book nature of it has put me off so far.
Phillip wrote: "I finally bit the bullet and began The Silmarillion. Though, the history book nature of it has put me off so far."It gets better, the earlier parts were the most difficult.
Trike wrote: "“Beth is really, really sick.”“Joey, do you want to put the book in the freezer?”
“...okay.”
Why does my brain have this stuff in it?"
Because you're an awesome person and I award you 10 points.
Phillip wrote: "That's literally the first thing I think of whenever I hear "Little Women.""
*high five* I think about Joey and Rachel every time I pick the book up to read more.
Just finished listening to Infinite Jest I think it's sort of a "laser" book.
Reminded me of Thomas Pynchon.
I've been reading V. a page at a time for ages so the voice was familiar.
In the end I agree with a review quoted on wikipedia it felt very "willed"
I was looking for an 1800s book by a female author for a reading challenge. Little Women popped up and I immediately chose it based on the Friends episode haha
Phillip wrote: "Trike wrote: "“Beth is really, really sick.”“Joey, do you want to put the book in the freezer?”
“...okay.”
Why does my brain have this stuff in it?"
That's literally the first thing I think of whenever I hear "Little Women.""
Dara wrote: "Trike wrote: "Why does my brain have this stuff in it?"
Because you're an awesome person and I award you 10 points.
Phillip wrote: "That's literally the first thing I think of whenever I hear "Little Women.""
*high five* I think about Joey and Rachel every time I pick the book up to read more."
Erik wrote: "I was looking for an 1800s book by a female author for a reading challenge. Little Women popped up and I immediately chose it based on the Friends episode haha"
We are all
Finished a re-listen of Assassin's Fate. I listen to one of the Fitz trilogies once a year! Just started listening to Age of War.
Trike wrote: "We are all weird ultra cool together."Word.
Just finished listening to Doctor Who: Delta and the Bannermen: 7th Doctor Novelisation. A perfect encapsulation of why Doctor who was cancelled in the eighties. The writer wouldn’t know a plot if it hit him on the head...
Mod
It should have been cancelled 3 Doctors earlier. At the end of Tom Baker's run :-?
Finished Alif the Unseen, did not expect it could be so much fun. Can't wait to read more from the author.Starting my Christmas read with NOS4A2.
Silvana,She wrote the Ms. Marvel comics to date and has a new book coming out The Bird King next year.
John (Nevets) wrote: "G Willow Wilson is also starting her run on Wonder Woman. There is a lot of good buzz about it."Rick wrote: "Silvana,
She wrote the Ms. Marvel comics to date and has a new book coming out The Bird King next year."
Yay, lots to read!
Already have The Bird King's ARC, glad I requested it even before reading Alif.
John (Nevets) wrote: "G Willow Wilson is also starting her run on Wonder Woman. There is a lot of good buzz about it."When Ms. Marvel wasn’t being hamstrung by crappy crossover events, it was one of three best books Marvel was putting out. If DC avoids that same problem (and stops being corporate-sexist), it will be great.
Just finished Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr. I didn't enjoy it much at all. I didn't hate it, just found it incredibly uninteresting. Starting Noir.
Halfway done with The Abyss Beyond Dreams. My first Peter F. Hamilton. It started slow, but it's building nicely. Can't wait to see how it ends. I will probably have to go back and read the older Void books. The Void in the center of the galaxy (view spoiler) is a fascinating concept and I have no idea where it will end up.
I finished The Gone World and Ariel recently, and now find myself at the familiar nexus point of three books I've dipped into but haven't committed to yet: Baptism of Fire, The Terror and Sleeping Giants.
I finally finished Leviathan Wakes and moved onto another very overdue book: The Road.
I finished reading City of Cayn (Book #2 of the Son of Cayn trilogy) by Jason McDonald and The Autumn Republic (Book #3 of Powder Mage Trilogy) by Brian McClellan. I am reading Artemis by Andy Weir. I plan to read Origin by Dan Brown next.
Couldn't find a S&L Christmas read so I am going with And All Through The House by Ed McBain. A Christmas special for the 87th Precinct series.
Successful on most of my list for the month and in process and moving on....All my library books are ready at once. This is going to be tricky:
Audio: Sins of Empire DONE
Audio: Manners & Mutiny DONE
Audio: In the Labyrinth of Drakes (Hoopla) DONE
Text: Static Ruin (finished, cuz Novella. loved this series) DONE
Text: Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr DONE
I'm also next up to check out these, but I've suspended the electronic holds:
Ebook: The Dream Gatherer DONE
Audio: Moon Over Soho still on hold "
I've now started Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett in hardback, The Lady of the Lake by Andrzej Sapkowski in Audio, and I'm listening to Golden Fool by Robin Hobb in the car with my spouse during holiday travel. We started over Thanksgiving, with a second round in process for Christmas.
Allison wrote: "I don't think I posted last month!I read:
An Unkindness of Ghosts - grim but fascinating.
The Consuming Fire - lots of detail and friends, wanted more humor.
[book:..."
Wow! I'm tired just reading the list. That is a LOT of reading. Good Job...I only read one book last month and on another now--In the Claws of the Indigen by Steve Rodgers.
Finished Blackdog on the way home from my parents' this morning (my brother was driving, I hasten to add) and started Fire & Blood.
Finished with NOS4A2. Enjoyable with strong characters and plot but it drags in the middle and while it is not graphic, the violence was disturbing.Starting Fire & Blood for my weekly fandom discussion, with Beauty Is a Wound on the side.
And that goes my whole SFF reads this year.
Final tally: 51 Sword, 33 Laser.
Finished Lovecraft Country on my tour de catchup and started Slan. Will try and finish Slan in a few days and ambitiously started Ka or Zeroes to crank out at the cabin this weekend. Lovecraft Country was good but kind of disjointed for me and I really hope there's a sequel. About 40 pages into Slan and while I had fairly tempered expectations it's actually been really interesting so far.
Also finished a few more essays from Slouching Towards Bethlehem and Consider the Lobster and Other Essays and these collections are superb. The DFW essay about the postwar narcissists killed me with the ending haha
Finished Little Women over the holiday. I absolutely loved it. My review.Sticking with classics and trying my first Austen, Emma.
Dara wrote: "...Sticking with classics and trying my first Austen, Emma."I have Emma in my TBR pile for 2019
Finished with Beauty Is a Wound which was violent (seriously, what is up with my reading these days?!) but reads like Marquez's magical realism. Will definitely look for other stuff to read from this author especially since he's Indonesian. Apparently I still have another Laser book to read, which should be perfect to end my 2018 SFF journey: Firefly: Big Damn Hero.
Not Sword or Laser, but I just finished reading Educated and found it fascinating. However, reading some people's reviews of the book have my blood boiling. There are plenty who say Westover fabricated her story because, basically, smart people don't allow themselves to be abused, and people who aren't adequately homeschooled clearly can't ever learn to take tests and get into college and do well, duh
Got through Canto Bight on Christmas Eve. It was a fun read. Planning to read The Armored Saint (yay for free books from Tor!) but haven't had a chance to get too far into it yet as I received some video games for Christmas. Priorities!I finished listening to The The Christmas Hirelings on Audible (yay for free downloads from Audible!). I kinda saw the kicker coming in this story from a mile away but I still enjoyed it. Plus it was read by Richard Armitage so, yeah, I definitely enjoyed that. ;) Ninefox Gambit is my up next from Audible.
Oops, forgot to mention I read The Purloined Poodle. It was all in one sitting. That one was super fun. I just love Oberon so much.
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The Sword and Laser
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Also, I saw a car when I parked at my grocery store tonight...ht..."
Wow, nice license plate. Someone with a good imagination.