What are you reading?

[Joolissa]

I take that back, Orren posted an iBooks thread, so it's in there.

[marguerite]

Here's the A Memory of Wind Tor.com link that has HTML, PDF, Mobi, & ePUB formats for download, and here's the same type link for the Eros, Philia, Agape as well. Tor.com looks pretty interesting actually.

 

I got both and I will add them to my library! Thanks for the recommendations!

- Jools

ps. Speaking of the itunes library. I find it VERY odd that they don't have a separate folder for your ebooks to go in like they do your apps... instead all the books are mixed in with your music.. Personally I'd have a folder for each separate thing.... podcasts, books, apps, movies, ringtones, etc. Maybe I'm too much of an organization freak!

Actually both Rachel Swirsky stories are also available free in the iBookstore, although not all the Tor Originals are.

M

[Joolissa]

Cool. I'll keep that in mind. It'll probably be a while before I adjust to how the iBook store navigates though. No category or many charts for "free ebooks" either. Oh well, I'll have to think of it as digging for treasure!

- Jools

[astillac]

I just finished Dune.

[Steve E]

I just finished Dune.

So what do you think? Better or worse than the movie?

[astillac]

So what do you think? Better or worse than the movie?

 

Never saw the movie. Was very, very sixties. An interesting story, once you make it past the writing.

[marguerite]

Will do. And if you'd like a little free sci-fi by the same author consider Eros, Philia, Agape also available on Kindle/iPad. It's Rachel Swirsky's contemporary tale of love in all its forms and of one robot's quest to know it all. It's a finalist for the 2010 Hugo Award and the 2010 Locus Award.

- Thoth

If you like this one, have you ever read Tanith Lee's The Silver Metal Lover? Similar concept (from 1981), very haunting story. Not available for Kindle or (probably) iPad, alas, but reissued in paperback in 2005 and still available.

Best,

M

[Steve E]

If you like this one, have you ever read Tanith Lee's The Silver Metal Lover? Similar concept (from 1981), very haunting story. Not available for Kindle or (probably) iPad, alas, but reissued in paperback in 2005 and still available.

Best,

M

I seem to remember it being about a rich teenage girl who falls in love with a robot minstrel. I remember the sequel, Metallic Love, being better, even if the critics didn't think so. (Booooo, critics.) Were there any other Tanith Lee books in the S.I.L.V.E.R. (robot romance) Series? And didn't she also do historical novels?

-T

[Steve E]

Never saw the movie.

Too bad. Despite it's length the movie had the luxury of dispensing with most of the more pointless subplots. It was, in its way, much tidier then the book.

 

Was very, very sixties. An interesting story, once you make it past the writing.

Interestingly, Herbert starting writing it in 1957 and finished it in 1963. He published it in 1965 after first serializing it in Analog magazine. Some critics (but not Herbert himself) claimed that Dune was really about the Middle-East conflict and the spice was really oil. I think that's a stretch but I see how you could make the analogy. What do you think?

-T

[marguerite]

I seem to remember it being about a rich teenage girl who falls in love with a robot minstrel. I remember the sequel, Metallic Love, being better, even if the critics didn't think so. (Booooo, critics.) Were there any other Tanith Lee books in the S.I.L.V.E.R. (robot romance) Series? And didn't she also do historical novels?

-T

Yes, that's the one. I didn't even know about the sequel until just now. Didn't see any others, though. I just remembered the first one for years, finally found it again, and liked it as much the second time.

 

I also read a collection by Tanith Lee: modernized fairy tales. Red as Blood? The book now listed on Amazon.com doesn't match my memory of the book, but it could be another edition. Again, very haunting.

Best,

M

[marguerite]

Too bad. Despite it's length the movie had the luxury of dispensing with most of the more pointless subplots. It was, in its way, much tidier then the book.

 

 

Interestingly, Herbert starting writing it in 1957 and finished it in 1963. He published it in 1965 after first serializing it in Analog magazine. Some critics (but not Herbert himself) claimed that Dune was really about the Middle-East conflict and the spice was really oil. I think that's a stretch but I see how you could make the analogy. What do you think?

-T

Tidied, maybe, but not nearly as interesting. The first Dune was amazing, the second still compelling, after that, not so good, in my view.

Best,

M

[Steve E]

Tidied, maybe, but not nearly as interesting. The first Dune was amazing, the second still compelling, after that, not so good, in my view.

I read them all in order: Dune; Dune Messiah; Children Of Dune; God Emperor Of Dune; Heretics Of Dune; Chapter House Of Dune; Hunters Of Dune; Sandworms Of Dune. Frank Herbert died in 1986 (of pancreatic cancer at age 65) so the last two novels were written by his son Brian Herbert, from his father's notes, with help from bestselling author Kevin Anderson. By this time I had lost interest in the series so I did not read: The Winds Of Dune; Paul Of Dune; House Atreides; House Harkonnen; House Corrino; The Battle Of Corrin; The Machine Crusade; The Butlerian Jihad; Dreamer Of Dune. All of these aforementioned are by Brian.

 

I kept expecting a character named Lorna to appear.

- T

[Joolissa]

I never knew there were so many Dune books!

[Steve E]

I never knew there were so many Dune books!

And more in the works.

Writers gotta eat too, Juliepoo.

- T

[orrenm]

Nice clue on The Sparrow, Thoth. The kicker, of course, is exactly how to interpret that biblical quotation.

 

I finished the book. My interpretation below (masked for spoilers as I HATE spoilers and I wouldn't want to clue anyone interested in reading it:

 

I think the quote relates to Sandoz being the sparrow in question; that even if God wasn't in the room, he still saw the sparrow fall (and the Jesuits would say, cared deeply)

 

 

I wrote a bit of my impressions (not a full review, no spoilers) on my site: http://www.orrenmerton.com/site/blog/

 

Now I'm going to start research for my own scifi story, and probably read The Walking Dead graphic novel.

 

Orren

[astillac]

Finished the "Of the Empire" trilogy I picked up on a whim at the library last week. The info dump at the beginning of the first book was almost enough to make me throw the book across the room, but I stuck with it, as I had nothing else to read, and I'm glad I did. The story is like this: murder, political intrigue, sex, political intrigue, ritual suicide, intrigue intrigue intrigue, desperation, more murder, etc. So. I didn't learn anything, but it was fun.

 

Except for the way the authors decided to start each chapter with a sentence like "The gong rang." "The wind died." That was really, really annoying.

[Steve E]

...The story is like this: murder, political intrigue, sex, political intrigue, ritual suicide, intrigue intrigue intrigue, desperation, more murder, etc.

Hmm. An interesting way to create an initial outline for a story.

 

So. I didn't learn anything, but it was fun.

My main reason for reading novels: the fun. Thanks for the input.

 

Except for the way the authors decided to start each chapter with a sentence like "The gong rang." "The wind died." That was really, really annoying.

I know exactly what you mean. You know what might be fun: "The gong died."; "The wind rang.". Now there's some imagery for you.

 

-T

[Joolissa]

Anyone here know about the Dresden Files? I came across the show on Netflix and saw that it's based off of books by Jim Butcher. The show was okay and hinted at things (as did watcher reviews) that make me think the books would be pretty good. Anyone read them or recommend them?

- Jools

[Steve E]

Anyone here know about the Dresden Files? I came across the show on Netflix and saw that it's based off of books by Jim Butcher. The show was okay and hinted at things (as did watcher reviews) that make me think the books would be pretty good. Anyone read them or recommend them?

- Jools

I can recommend the (cancelled) TV series. (I got the Complete Series on DVD as a gift.) But I never read the books and I'm not familiar with Jim Butcher's writing style so I can't recommend the Novel series.

 

Anyone?

- Thoth

[Joolissa]

Yea I watched the whole series over a day or two and enjoyed it, though I noted some inconsistencies that after reading some reviews turned out to be things that were in the books, but mostly got cut from the series (such as his cat). I'd like to see the full unaired pilot as well, but I'll have to try to dig it up online. I think I'll check to see if my library has any of the series to read. There's quite a few on the iBook Store if anyone wants to purchase them on there. Storm Front is the first in the Dresden series.

- Jools

[astillac]

Julia, my friends have been hounding me to read The Dresden Files, but the first book isn't in the library just yet. They recommend it quite strongly.

[Steve E]

Still reading the Ender series. I'm up to Children of the Mind. I've changed my mind about his style. I've come to enjoy how Card creates a tangled skein of a story and then, at the last moment, untangles everything. On the down side, he gives you so many clues about what's about to happen you find yourself saying, "Come on already! Get to it!" I haven't made up my mind about all the pathos he dumps onto his characters. Do I really need to be reminded every chapter about how miserable and screwed up everyone is? The humans, anyway. It's been good laundry room reading.

 

I have Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent, on order from Amazon. Non-fiction. I liked the reviews.

 

- Thoth.

[Steakpirate]

Still reading the Ender series. I'm up to Children of the Mind. I've changed my mind about his style. I've come to enjoy how Card creates a tangled skein of a story and then, at the last moment, untangles everything. On the down side, he gives you so many clues about what's about to happen you find yourself saying, "Come on already! Get to it!" I haven't made up my mind about all the pathos he dumps onto his characters. Do I really need to be reminded every chapter about how miserable and screwed up everyone is? The humans, anyway. It's been good laundry room reading.

 

I have Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent, on order from Amazon. Non-fiction. I liked the reviews.

 

- Thoth.

 

I immensely enjoyed all of the Ender's and Bean's saga books. The later bean books got a lot more political, but were still worth a read. I haven't ACTUALLY started Exile, I put that status up when I preordered the paperback, which amazon has still yet to ship.

[orrenm]

I asked my wife why she didn't continue with the Ender's series, since she liked the first one. Basically, after she read his essays (such as this one, The Hypocrites of Homosexuality) and read from other articles that his hatred of gay marriage goes so far that he condones violent, military revolution against the US Government if gay marriage is legalized, she just couldn't give the guy another dime.

 

Brings up an interesting question, doesn't it? At what point does the artist's own viewpoints taint the art? I know that many Jews refuse to listen to Wager, due to his extreme anti-Semitism. OTOH, his music is considered classic. Or what about Mel Gibson? Since he's revealed himself to be both anti-Semitic and anti-African American, does that retroactively make his movies bad, if you enjoyed them?

 

I remember my own mixed feelings when I saw a picture of goth legendary singer Siouxsie Sioux wearing a swastika in a 70s punk nightclub, and I read that an original lyric in one of my favorite Siouxsie songs, "Love in a Void," was "Too many Jews for my liking."

 

These sort of issues become even more relevant in the age of Twitter and blogs, in which many of us share our social views publicly.

 

(None of this is to say you shouldn't enjoy Ender's work, BTW! I enjoy Siouxsie to this day).

 

Interesting to think about,

Orren

[Steve E]

I asked my wife why she didn't continue with the Ender's series, since she liked the first one. Basically, after she read his essays (such as this one, The Hypocrites of Homosexuality) and read from other articles that his hatred of gay marriage goes so far that he condones violent, military revolution against the US Government if gay marriage is legalized, she just couldn't give the guy another dime.

 

Brings up an interesting question, doesn't it? At what point does the artist's own viewpoints taint the art? I know that many Jews refuse to listen to Wager, due to his extreme anti-Semitism. OTOH, his music is considered classic. Or what about Mel Gibson? Since he's revealed himself to be both anti-Semitic and anti-African American, does that retroactively make his movies bad, if you enjoyed them?

 

I remember my own mixed feelings when I saw a picture of goth legendary singer Siouxsie Sioux wearing a swastika in a 70s punk nightclub, and I read that an original lyric in one of my favorite Siouxsie songs, "Love in a Void," was "Too many Jews for my liking."

 

These sort of issues become even more relevant in the age of Twitter and blogs, in which many of us share our social views publicly.

 

(None of this is to say you shouldn't enjoy Ender's work, BTW! I enjoy Siouxsie to this day).

 

Interesting to think about,

Orren

I understand why your wife "just couldn't give the guy another dime" because it feels like supporting (perhaps even endorsing) a point of view she finds repugnant. But I've read a few of the books in the Ender series and have yet to notice any gay bashing. Perhaps rewarding him for enlightened tolerance in his writings will help him see the error of his ways.

 

One of Card's postulates is that "you can't serve two masters." It's catchy but it's simply not true. Everyone has divided loyalties. It's normal and very human. You're loyal to your employer and you're loyal to your family. It's a balancing act. We all tell ourselves, with complete conviction, that it's family first. But how often do we give our family the short shrift to appease a boss or to relieve community pressure. In short, what "demands utter allegiance" never ever gets it. You can be gay and a member of the LDS. I have no doubt that more people are than would ever admit to it.

 

In short, Card's premises are flawed and, therefore, so is his argument. But his opinions are still his opinions, regardless. Perhaps there is still room for growth. In any event, this doesn't mean I can't enjoy Card's writing, Gibson's movies or Wagner's music. As long as their prejudices don't turn up in their art I am still willing to buy it.

- Thoth.