What are you reading?
- Thread starter Nastycrow
- Start date
Eranys said:
Ed Harris has some of the qualities, but he's too nice, in my opinion. I can't see him doing the evil that Flagg did.
With respect to King, as it is his work, I feel like Duvall is a terrible choice. He doesn't have the manic energy that The Walking Dude had. I can't see it.
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Daniel Day Lewis it is then...
If This Book Exists, You're in the Wrong Universe
, Jason Pargin. The fourth and most current of the John Dies series. Brings in some time travel elements to this particular story, and the same cosmic/dimensional horror setting. Similar to the others, same crazy story, unreliable characters, and biting humor. A bit too similar to the others, IMO. His unique writing style and humor is great at first, but wearing a bit thin by now. I think I'm done with Pargin for a bit at least. I think the 5th book is scheduled for late 2026, I'll probably check it out then, but I'm good until then.
Zoe's Tale,
John Scalzi. The fourth novel in the Old Man's War series. I really, really disliked this book; it was a curveball in the series that I did not see coming. It's simply a retelling of the events of the third novel from the perspective of the main protagonists' teenage daughter, Zoe. So the plot does not move forward at all, and it's all retold in a YA style, in between bouts of this annoying girl hanging out with her annoying friends and arguing with her on-again-off-again annoying boyfriend. I think I hated this so bad it put me off of reading the rest of the series. The previous book (The Last Colony) had wrapped things up pretty well, so I'll just consider the trilogy wrapped, forget I ever read this trash book, and move on to something else. Such as...
Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
, Laurence Bergreen. This one I enjoyed. I had previously reviewed the History of the World Map by Map, which got me curious about many subjects, this being one of them. Bergreen does a good job of turning various ancient, first-hand accounts into a compelling and balanced narrative. In 1519, Magellan and 265 men set sail west in five ships searching for a westward passage to the Spice Islands (in what is now Indonesia); such a passage had yet to be confirmed to even exist, much less documented by Western Civilization. About three years later (spoiler alert), just one of the five ships limps back to port in Spain with only 18 survivors (Magellan not being among them), having survived storms, mutinies, murderous cannibals, starvation, and scurvy, all while being hunted by the Portuguese. A very fun and educational read.
Brick said:
Zoe's Tale,
John Scalzi. The fourth novel in the Old Man's War series. I really, really disliked this book; it was a curveball in the series that I did not see coming. It's simply a retelling of the events of the third novel from the perspective of the main protagonists' teenage daughter, Zoe. So the plot does not move forward at all, and it's all retold in a YA style, in between bouts of this annoying girl hanging out with her annoying friends and arguing with her on-again-off-again annoying boyfriend. I think I hated this so bad it put me off of reading the rest of the series. The previous book (The Last Colony) had wrapped things up pretty well, so I'll just consider the trilogy wrapped, forget I ever read this trash book, and move on to something else. Such as...
Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
, Laurence Bergreen. This one I enjoyed. I had previously reviewed the History of the World Map by Map, which got me curious about many subjects, this being one of them. Bergreen does a good job of turning various ancient, first-hand accounts into a compelling and balanced narrative. In 1519, Magellan and 265 men set sail west in five ships searching for a westward passage to the Spice Islands (in what is now Indonesia); such a passage had yet to be confirmed to even exist, much less documented by Western Civilization. About three years later (spoiler alert), just one of the five ships limps back to port in Spain with only 18 survivors (Magellan not being among them), having survived storms, mutinies, murderous cannibals, starvation, and scurvy, all while being hunted by the Portuguese. A very fun and educational read.
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Yeah! Zoe's Tale is the weakest of the series BUT you have to read The End of All Things and the last one; The Shattering Peace. They're next level... You won't regret it, I promise.
Zoey is Too Drunk for This Dystopia
by Jason Pargin
Book 3 of the Zoey Ashe trilogy and this one is essentially Pargin's view on politics and modern elections.
The premise of the book is that there is an upcoming Mayoral race in Tabula Ra$a between the tough on crime, eugenic candidate Leonidis Damon and the 'vote for me and I'll give you $10', wants to maintain the status quo and let the city police itself candidate 'Megaboss' Alonzo Dunn.
The book starts with Zoey freaking out about a public speaking appearance she is set to make at a gigantic Lollapolloza/Coachella'esq music festival, but in the 48-72 hours or so leading up to the festival increasingly bizarre s--- keeps happening which puts the city on edge. As a result, Zoey and her Suits have to do everything in their power to stop the city from imploding.
This was my favorite of the Zoey Ashe trilogy (which another installment is planned for in 2028). The characters are more fleshed out at this point and the villains are much less cartoonish than in the first installment. Leonidis Damon in particular feels eerily familiar to a lot of modern politicians that are trying to use a municipal/state election to springboard to a Presidential nomination, and Pargin does a good job of keeping him well rounded and believable throughout the book.
If you're not familiar with Pargin, this would actually be a good place to start. It is book 3 of this universe, but in all of his books he does a good job of 'reminding' everyone of what happened up to this point while reintroducing the key characters. Sure, you'll miss out on some of the details if you don't read the first two books, but, you'll be able to follow along pretty easily.
Not 100% sure where I'll go next... might try to give Christopher Moore a read, might also just look for something with an interesting cover the next time I'm at the library.
Dungeon Crawler Carl
This series has started making its way into the zeitgeist, and I had a few friends mention I should try it, so I did.
The premise and setups for it doesn't do the full thing justice, but I'll try:
Carl is just your standard everyday guy, living life, until one day the aliens from the intergalactic government show up and instantly kill most of the worlds population. The survivors have a choice to either stay on the decimated surface, or enter an 18-floor "dungeon" game show that is based off every MMORPG/D&D campaign you've ever seen. If someone survives all 18 floors, Earth is repatriated to them and the aliens leave it alone forever. The series follows Carl and his ex-gf's cat, Princess Donut, as they try and navigate the dungeons and survive.
The series is a pretty good mix of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, The Hunger Games, and Dungeons and Dragons. I personally found the writing clever, because the way everything is set up, no deus ex machina is off the table and it all works within the story. Very well written, very entertaining, very fun, and it does a good job poking and exploring some deeper themes without beating you over the head with them, while still having fun absurdist humor sprinkled throughout. Even supporting characters are decently fleshed out, Easter eggs are dropped books in advance that pay off way later, and overall it's a great option if you enjoyed any of the material it pulls from.
Give this series a solid 8.5/10-9/10, well worth a read if you like this type of book.
Brick said:
Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
, Laurence Bergreen. This one I enjoyed. I had previously reviewed the History of the World Map by Map, which got me curious about many subjects, this being one of them. Bergreen does a good job of turning various ancient, first-hand accounts into a compelling and balanced narrative. In 1519, Magellan and 265 men set sail west in five ships searching for a westward passage to the Spice Islands (in what is now Indonesia); such a passage had yet to be confirmed to even exist, much less documented by Western Civilization. About three years later (spoiler alert), just one of the five ships limps back to port in Spain with only 18 survivors (Magellan not being among them), having survived storms, mutinies, murderous cannibals, starvation, and scurvy, all while being hunted by the Portuguese. A very fun and educational read.
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I had just caught a program on this yesterday. Apparently when they first hit the Philippines a local tribe leader welcomed them with open arms, with a stipulation he, Magellan, War with a rival tribe. Magellan agreed and set off, all armoured up with close to 100 men. The rival tribe had 1500..not a good day for the expedition.
bconcrete said:
Dungeon Crawler Carl
This series has started making its way into the zeitgeist, and I had a few friends mention I should try it, so I did.
The premise and setups for it doesn't do the full thing justice, but I'll try:
Carl is just your standard everyday guy, living life, until one day the aliens from the intergalactic government show up and instantly kill most of the worlds population. The survivors have a choice to either stay on the decimated surface, or enter an 18-floor "dungeon" game show that is based off every MMORPG/D&D campaign you've ever seen. If someone survives all 18 floors, Earth is repatriated to them and the aliens leave it alone forever. The series follows Carl and his ex-gf's cat, Princess Donut, as they try and navigate the dungeons and survive.
The series is a pretty good mix of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, The Hunger Games, and Dungeons and Dragons. I personally found the writing clever, because the way everything is set up, no deus ex machina is off the table and it all works within the story. Very well written, very entertaining, very fun, and it does a good job poking and exploring some deeper themes without beating you over the head with them, while still having fun absurdist humor sprinkled throughout. Even supporting characters are decently fleshed out, Easter eggs are dropped books in advance that pay off way later, and overall it's a great option if you enjoyed any of the material it pulls from.
Give this series a solid 8.5/10-9/10, well worth a read if you like this type of book.
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Oh yes, that one is on hold right now at the library!
I'm still #4 on the list though, so it might be a month
Fight Magnet said:
I had just caught a program on this yesterday. Apparently when they first hit the Philippines a local tribe leader welcomed them with open arms, with a stipulation he, Magellan, War with a rival tribe. Magellan agreed and set off, all armoured up with close to 100 men. The rival tribe had 1500..not a good day for the expedition.
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Totally. The account of the battle and Magellan's horrible decisions are explored in great detail. The friendly tribe had 2K warriors and wanted to fight along side the expedition soldiers, but Magellan ordered them not to, as he wanted to show them "what we can do in battle." Well, he did show them, lol. The rival tribe hacked him to pieces (literally) and his remains never were recovered. His men did NOT want to engage in this absolutely pointless battle, especially so close to their destination, but the increasingly erratic Magellan insisted. Whoops.
Brick said:
Totally. The account of the battle and Magellan's horrible decisions are explored in great detail. The friendly tribe had 2K warriors and wanted to fight along side the expedition soldiers, but Magellan ordered them not to, as he wanted to show them "what we can do in battle." Well, he did show them, lol.
The rival tribe hacked him to pieces (literally) and his remains never were recovered.
His men did NOT want to engage in this absolutely pointless battle, especially so close to their destination, but the increasingly erratic Magellan insisted. Whoops.
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I wonder if there were a bunch of conspiracies about how he didn't actually die and was seen partying in South Beach...
Four Ball One Tracer: Commanding Executive Outcomes in Angola and Sierra Leone
by
Andrew Hudson
and
Roelf van Heerden
Roelf was in the South African army, in Angola during their 15 year long border war and then in other lightly alluded to units. Then the government changed to the blacks and Roelf was out of a job. He then was invited to join Executive Outcomes which is a South African based Private Military Group (PMC, aka the new word for mercenary). He then was a big part of the missions where EO got hired to finally solve the Angolan civil war (which had been raging for like 25 years) which 200 or so white guys mixed with some blacks managed to do in about 6 months. Then he got sent to Sierra Leone which also had a civil war/looting operation going on that was violent and gross even by African standards which they also managed to put an end to and create a peace in about a year. But then Clinton, the brits, world opinion said PMC's are bad and the UN should handle it and EO lost their contract (which cost a grand total of 2 million a month which wasn't all that much money even in 1997 money.). I read this a few months ago, it was ok not great, works to fill out the knowledge of late 90's Africa. But interestingly it ties into the next book which I thought someone here recommended
Operation Certain Death
by Damien Lewis
So, then to pick up the story (which he briefly alludes to), EO gets their contract pulled, the UN sends in 13,000 peacekeepers (at a cost of $600 million per year) who manage to completely f--- up the peace, within 6 months the rebels have stormed back, taken over the capital (Freetown, i know, write your own jokes) and busy lopping off hands, feet, etc. (Seen the movie Blood Diamond? based on the civil war in Sierra Leone and reasonably true to the events (minus the diamond of course). So, then they send even more UN troops and at this point the British send a military congigent to take the capital back over and put down law and order (outside of the UN) and then some of their own troops to train the SL Army. Some of them go on a trip like 40 miles up river to visit Jordanian UN troops (who are trading ammo for diamonds we find out later, the UN is corrupt, who knew?) and on their way back were told by the Jordanians to go check out some other villages since they are searching for the rebel bases.
well they find it, walk right into it, right when the rebels (West Side boys) are on their afternoon drug binge and they all get kidnapped and held for ransom. Negotiaters come out, etc, etc, meanwhile the SAS (and SBS) get spun up and the politicians talk and talk. finally 12 days in the British government gives the go ahead and 50 odd SAS men, and another 100 or so Para's go on and free the hostages and waste the West Side Boys, and end up actually solving the war since the little rebel groups realize they can't compete with this. Gets a little moralizing at the end, like the guy seems to be new to Africa, but it's a heck of a story pretty well told, don't need to understand or care about Africa, just the interesting story of the SAS (and Paras) with a lot of background.
Brick said:
Zoe's Tale,
John Scalzi. The fourth novel in the Old Man's War series. I really, really disliked this book
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I like books but if I dislike a book I can't keep reading it. how do you push through that? are you telling yourself there may be a badass turn in the road coming up that'll make it worth it?
---ABB--- said:
I like books but if I dislike a book I can't keep reading it. how do you push through that? are you telling yourself there may be a badass turn in the road coming up that'll make it worth it?
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The three previous books in the series were all good, plus I've read at least two others by this author (Kaiju Preservation Society and Redshirts) that were both quite good, so I was hoping for a good turn or some sort of worthwhile contribution to the series. Plus his books are pretty short reads (maybe 350-400 pages or so), so it wasn't that hard to take a couple of days and just push through to the end.
Brick said:
The three previous books in the series were all good, plus I've read at least two others by this author (Kaiju Preservation Society and Redshirts) that were both quite good, so I was hoping for a good turn or some sort of worthwhile contribution to the series. Plus his books are pretty short reads (maybe 350-400 pages or so), so it wasn't that hard to take a couple of days and just push through to the end.
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I'm the same way with most entertainment.
If I've done a bit of research on, or, I'm familiar with the creator, I'll typically power thru... even if I'm not digging it.
If it's something I randomly flipped on, or my daughter/wife grabbed it for me... much easier to bail out and walk away when it's not resonating.
osubuckeye4 said:
I'm the same way with most entertainment.
If I've done a bit of research on, or, I'm familiar with the creator, I'll typically power thru... even if I'm not digging it.
If it's something I randomly flipped on, or my daughter/wife grabbed it for me... much easier to bail out and walk away when it's not resonating.
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Same here. I tend to select my reading very carefully and after doing at least some research or getting a strong recommendation, so it's rare that I come across a real stinker. But I'm far more likely to abandon a movie or TV show than a book.
if the book is part of a series and I've liked the series so far (i.e it's not book #1) I'll try and power thru it. But if ti's a standalone, I"ll work at it for a while but there comes a point usually where I think "why am I doing this?"
Rare but it happens.
some books are so bad (mostly fiction) that you only finish to keep finding mistakes/nonsense/mary sues/etc so you can write a wrathful review.
TV shows/movies have a 20 minute limit. If i'm still bored after 20 minutes and not sucked in I'm moving on to something else.
Brick said:
Same here. I tend to select my reading very carefully and after doing at least some research or getting a strong recommendation, so it's rare that I come across a real stinker. But I'm far more likely to abandon a movie or TV show than a book.
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I haven't go to the point where I'll walk out of a theater
(though I was fighting the urge to take a nap during
One Battle After Another
).
.. but I've got A LOT more willing to abandon TV shows.
That's more because of the amount of content (including bad content) that is produced these days.
There is just so much crap.
I am pretty selective in what I watch and usually have a decent radar for bypassing dross it before getting started, but every once in awhile I'll be scrolling and see something with a premise or cast that interest me and it will end up being garbage. I used to stick around and give it a season, but now if you can't give me anything that interests me in the first 30 minutes... and if you can't get me at least somewhat on board with where it's all going in 2-3 episodes? I'm out.
Brick said:
The three previous books in the series were all good, plus I've read at least two others by this author (Kaiju Preservation Society and Redshirts) that were both quite good, so I was hoping for a good turn or some sort of worthwhile contribution to the series. Plus his books are pretty short reads (maybe 350-400 pages or so), so it wasn't that hard to take a couple of days and just push through to the end.
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If you like Scalzi's books you have to read the The Collapsing Empire trilogy... It's awesome.
Also Starter Villain... It's hilarious...